Soitec Reaffirms Commitment to Support Taiwanese Foundries' Move Toward Production on SOI

"Soitec is witnessing increasing interest in SOI technology among Taiwanese foundries. As these foundries begin their move toward the production of their next-generation products, they are realizing that SOI can help address the increasingly stringent process performance requirements associated with manufacturing these advanced devices. Along with SOISIC, we are committed to this rapidly growing region and are armed with the technology, expertise, capacity and localized support needed to rapidly respond to these foundries as they ramp up production on SOI wafers," said Michael Wolf, Soitec's senior vice president of marketing and sales.

With greater than 80 percent market share, Soitec is the leading provider of advanced SOI thin-film substrates for integrated circuit (IC) manufacturing, and is the only SOI company capable of delivering, in high volumes, a full range of thick- and thin-film SOI wafers in both 200-mm and 300-mm diameters. SOI material delivers key uniformity and performance advantages enabling chips to perform approximately 30 percent more efficiently, while consuming two to three times less power -- critical qualities for next-generation devices. Soitec's objective is to establish its Smart Cut(TM) proprietary technology as the worldwide standard among chipmakers and foundries alike for meeting the increasing performance requirements of new applications.

Soitec is also leveraging its Smart Cut technology to develop new families of engineered wafers and customized wafer solutions beyond SOI. Most recently, Soitec and partner ASM International announced that they have achieved a major milestone in their strained silicon-on-insulator (sSOI) partnership program. Marking an industry first, the joint program has produced samples of first-generation strained silicon wafers for the 65-nm technology node. Strained SOI combines two high-performance technological solutions: strained silicon and ultra-thin SOI.

Validating customers' growing confidence and satisfaction with Soitec as the leading SOI provider, the company recently announced that it has received a World Class Supplier Spotlight Award from Advanced Micro Devices, Inc.  in recognition of its overall SOI support and commitment to AMD. Soitec was awarded the honor due to its flexibility and superior customer service provided in a rapidly changing business environment, which enabled AMD to achieve its manufacturing objectives quickly and effectively. Soitec provides AMD with volume quantities of advanced thin-film UNIBOND(TM) SOI substrate solutions for the production of the AMD Opteron(TM) and upcoming AMD Athlon(TM) 64 processor products.

About Soitec:
Soitec is the world's leading manufacturer and supplier of SOI wafers, with greater than 80-percent market share. Headquartered in Bernin, France, Soitec provides a broad range of advanced thin-film substrates for IC manufacturing, including bonded SOI (UNIBOND(TM)) and silicon-on-quartz (SOQ) wafers-all of which are manufactured using Soitec's proprietary Smart Cut(TM) process. Soitec is traded on the French "Nouveau Marche" of Euronext Paris (Sicovam code 7206). Additional information is available on the Internet at www.soitec.com

About SOISIC:
Headquartered in Grenoble, France, SOISIC (Silicon on Insulator Systems and Integrated Circuits) is the world's first company to focus solely on SOI semiconductor intellectual property (SIP) market and SOI design technology. As a spin-off from LETI, the company has over 15 years of expertise in SOI technology. SOISIC offers products (Xpert Kit, digital libraries, ASIC design, analog/RF design, SRAM design) based on its advanced knowledge of emerging processes to foundries and independent device manufacturers and ultimately aims to become a significant fabless semiconductor company. Additional information is available on the Internet at http://www.soisic.com

NOTE: Smart Cut and UNIBOND are trademarks of S.O.I.TEC Silicon On Insulator Technologies. AMD, AMD Opteron and AMD Athlon, and combinations thereof, are trademarks of Advanced Micro Devices, Inc.