Renesas to sell German fab to Silicon Foundry

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Renesas to sell German fab to Silicon Foundry

Negotiations with the new potential shareholders are proceeding, closing of the deal expected by the end of 2008

Thursday, September 25, 2008

TOKYO, JAPAN: Renesas Technology Corp., one of the world’s leading semiconductor solution providers, is planning a sale of its production facility in Germany, Renesas Semiconductor Europe (Landshut) GmbH (RSEL), to Silicon Foundry Holding (SFH), a newly established Germany-based company specializing in semiconductor foundry services. The final agreement is expected to be concluded by the end of 2008.

RSEL has been present in Landshut for 28 years and has evolved to produce the highest possible quality of secure microcontroller wafers for smart card applications with 0.35 µm and 0.18 µm processes. However, in a fast developing market, the trend evolves down to ever-smaller microchips, which Renesas cannot produce with high volume at small facilities like RSEL. Consequently, this reduces the load at RSEL.

Renesas has examined the future of RSEL carefully as part of global activities seeking to optimize its production resources worldwide, in parallel with efforts to cut down costs and raise the operating capacity. Considering the economic rationale thoroughly, Renesas has decided to concentrate its wafer fabrication investments in its bigger production facilities to exploit economies of scale and remain competitive.

SFH is a new company established by two RSEL managers, specializing in semiconductor foundry services especially for the European market. The company has made a business proposal which provides a positive future to RSEL with a new strategy. “Having evaluated all possible options for the future of RSEL in detail, the business plan of SFH, focusing on analog mixed signal production to support local markets including lower volumes, will be a positive solution to continue RSEL’s business operations,” says Satoru Ito, chairman and CEO of Renesas Technology Corp.

The detailed agreement is still in negotiation and it is expected to be concluded by the end of 2008. More information will be disclosed as soon as the deal is finally closed.

©CIOL Bureau