Cypress Forges Foundry Agreement with Grace Semiconductor Manufacturing Corporation; Launches Flexible Manufacturing Strategy; Capacity Increase to Support Fast-Growing Consumer, Computation Products.SAN JOSE San Jose, city, United States San Jose (sănəzā`, săn hōzā`), city (1990 pop. 782,248), seat of Santa Clara co., W central Calif.; founded 1777, inc. 1850. , Calif. & SHANGHAI, China -- Cypress Semiconductor Cypress Semiconductor is a semiconductor design and manufacturing company. It began operations in 1982 and listed publicly in 1986. Two years later, the company shifted over to the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol, (NYSE: CY). Corp. (NYSE NYSE See: New York Stock Exchange :CY) and Grace Semiconductor Manufacturing Corporation (Grace) today announced that they have entered into a strategic foundry partnership. Under terms of the agreement, Cypress will transfer its Programmable System-on-Chip(TM) (PSoC(R)) mixed signal array, CMOS image sensor A CMOS-based chip that records the intensities of light as variable charges similar to a CCD chip. Although initially used in less expensive digital cameras, the quality of CMOS sensors has improved steadily. CMOS sensors have advantages over CCDs. , WirelessUSB(TM), and PC clock process technologies to Grace and in turn receive preferential volume access to Grace's foundry capacity. The increase in capacity will augment output from Cypress's production facilities in Bloomington, Minn., and Round Rock, Texas, supporting Cypress's high-volume, high-growth products used in consumer and computation devices. "This agreement marks our first step in the implementation of a new flexible manufacturing strategy that will enable Cypress to leverage its proprietary process technologies while achieving significant foundry capacity to support the rapid growth of our leading products," said T.J. Rodgers, president and CEO (1) (Chief Executive Officer) The highest individual in command of an organization. Typically the president of the company, the CEO reports to the Chairman of the Board. of Cypress. "In addition, we will be able to decrease the ongoing capital requirements Capital requirements Financing required for the operation of a business, composed of long-term and working capital plus fixed assets. needed to support our growth needs while maintaining a consistently high level of utilization in our own fabs - making this a winning strategy for our customers, our shareholders and Grace." Qualification of the first product is scheduled for the beginning of the third quarter of 2006 in Grace's 8-inch facility in Shanghai. Grace will start production with the PSoC mixed-signal array on Cypress's proprietary S4 technology. Following the ramp-up at Grace, Cypress expects to increase its overall capacity by an additional 15,000 wafer starts per month by the fourth quarter of 2007. Cypress will transfer its technology using best-in-class business processes in conjunction with the deployment of manufacturing process control experts to oversee the seamless integration An addition of a new application, routine or device that works smoothly with the existing system. It implies that the new feature or program can be installed and used without problems. Contrast with "transparent," which implies that there is no discernible change after installation. of Cypress's manufacturing technology and advanced process control infrastructure into Grace. This will ensure a timely and efficient transfer of technologies, methodologies and requisite skill sets, enabling Grace to fully integrate Cypress's quality, statistical process control and demand fulfillment attributes. "After conducting an exhaustive audit, we are confident that Grace can provide not only the product quality but also the technology capability that our customer base has come to expect from Cypress," said Shahin Sharifzadeh, executive vice president of Manufacturing and R&D at Cypress. "Our partnership with Grace will provide Cypress the agility and flexibility to meet our manufacturing requirements while providing world-class service to our customers in terms of lead-time and cost." "Cypress's selection of Grace is a clear recognition of our foundry model
Revenue from Cypress's Consumer and Computation devices grew by more than 25 percent in the third quarter of 2005 and is expected to increase again in the fourth quarter. The chips are used in a variety of applications including MP3 players, set-top boxes, gaming systems, and computers. About Grace Semiconductor Manufacturing Corporation Grace Semiconductor Manufacturing Corporation (Grace) is a pure IC foundry company that specializes in integrated circuit integrated circuit (IC), electronic circuit built on a semiconductor substrate, usually one of single-crystal silicon. The circuit, often called a chip, is packaged in a hermetically sealed case or a nonhermetic plastic capsule, with leads extending from it for (IC) fabrication fabrication (fab´rikā´sh n the construction or making of a restoration. . Grace's mission is to become a leading foundry in China by supplying high quality and advanced process technology to domestic and global customers. Grace is located in Zhangjiang Hi-Tech Park in Pudong, Shanghai, with a total land area of 240,000 square meters and a first-phase investment of $1.63 billion. Two Fabs with one based on 12-inch wafer specifications have been constructed. Currently, Fab 1A (8") is in full production. It already reached a monthly capacity of 27,000 8-inch wafers by the end 2004. More information about Grace is available at http://www.gsmcthw.com/. About Cypress Cypress solutions are at the heart of any system that is built to perform: consumer, computation, data communications, automotive, industrial, and solar power. Leveraging a strong commitment to customer service and performance-based process and manufacturing expertise, Cypress's product portfolio includes a broad selection of wired and wireless USB devices, CMOS image sensors, timing solutions, network search engines, specialty memories, high-bandwidth synchronous and micropower memory products, optical solutions, and reconfigurable mixed-signal arrays. Cypress stock is traded on the New York Stock Exchange New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) World's largest marketplace for securities. The exchange began as an informal meeting of 24 men in 1792 on what is now Wall Street in New York City. under the ticker symbol Ticker Symbol An arrangement of characters (usually letters) representing a particular security listed on an exchange or otherwise traded publicly. When a company issues securities to the public marketplace, it selects an available ticker symbol for its securities which investors CY. More information about the company is available online at www.cypress.com. Cypress and the Cypress logo are registered trademarks of Cypress Semiconductor Corporation. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. |
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