United Microelectronics Corp (UMC, 聯電) yesterday said it has signed a long-term agreement with Infineon Technologies AG to increase its 40-nanometer capacity for the production of Infineon’s automotive microcontrollers.
Infineon’s high-performance microcontroller products, based on the company’s embedded non-volatile memories technology, would be produced at UMC’s 12-inch fab in Singapore, the companies said in a joint statement.
Infineon said this year it is increasing the amount of automotive microcontrollers it sells to almost 1 million per day to cope with an increase in demand for microcontrollers, which are used in a wide range of functions in vehicles.
Photo: Ritchie B. Tongo, EPA-EFE
“With this strategic cooperation agreement, we have secured additional long-term capacity to serve Infineon’s customers in the fast-growing automotive market,” Infineon chief operating officer Rutger Wijburg said in the statement. “Going forward, Infineon and UMC will further deepen automotive collaboration in the areas of microcontroller, power management and connectivity solutions.”
The multi-year supply agreement further reinforces UMC’s long-standing partnership with Infineon across various automotive, artificial intelligence of things and 5G market segments, UMC copresident Jason Wang (王石) said in the statement.
Since 2019, UMC has tripled its shipments of automotive products, Wang said.
The chipmaker said it expects that momentum to continue as demand for automotive semiconductors rises.
“Given our specialty technology leadership, diversified manufacturing footprint, and focus on quality and operational excellence, we look forward to deepening our collaborations with world-class automotive leaders such as Infineon,” Wang said.
Automotive chips made up about 9 percent of UMC’s overall revenue of NT$278.71 billion (US$9.11 billion) last year, the company told investors in January.
It said its revenue from automotive chips grew 82 percent annually last year, and attributed the increase to the growing trend of vehicle electrification and automation.
With demand for chips used in computers and mobile phones weakening, automotive chips have become an important driving force for UMC, the company said.
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