Renesas turns over fab to Silicon Foundry

Renesas Technology Corp. has transferred all shares of the former Renesas Semiconductor Europe (Landshut) GmbH (RSEL), to Silicon Foundry Holding GmbH (SFH), a Germany-based company specializing in semiconductor pure-play foundry services.

The factory, which started wafer production in 1992, is currently producing secure microcontroller wafers for smart card applications on 0.35?m, 0.18?m and recently 0.15?m process technologies. Renesas completed a thorough evaluation of all possible options for the future of the Landshut facility as a part of its global strategy, seeking to optimize and utilize its production resources worldwide. During this process, SFH made an alternative business proposal to transform the Landshut facility to an advanced analog pure-play foundry, which Renesas accepted. After the transfer of the fab, Renesas will outsource its products to SFH until December 2009. Managed by two former RSEL managers, SFH will act as a local pure-play foundry, specializing in analog and mixed signal wafer production, providing a flexible approach to customer requirements.