BERNIN, France, Nov. 12, 2001 (PRIMEZONE) -- Soitec (Paris Stock Exchange:SOIT), the leading manufacturer of silicon-on-insulator (SOI) wafers for use in semiconductor manufacturing, today announced that Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. (NYSE:AMD) has placed a multimillion-dollar order for 200 mm UNIBOND(r) SOI wafers manufactured using Soitec's proprietary Smart Cut(r) technology. The order is the largest in Soitec's history, both in number of wafers and in dollar amount. AMD plans to use the Soitec-enabled wafers to manufacture its recently announced "Hammer" family of next-generation microprocessors, incorporating complementary metal-oxide semiconductor (CMOS)-based, partially depleted SOI circuits.
"This order is the culmination of several years of development work, during which we have been very impressed with the performance advantages exhibited by Soitec's Smart Cut process," said Dr. William Siegle, senior vice president for technology and manufacturing operations and chief scientist at AMD. "We will require high-quality SOI material for volume production of our new product family, and Soitec has demonstrated its ability not only to meet but to exceed our demands in this respect. Also, a separate but essential requirement was Soitec's ability to assure us that they would be able to produce sufficient quantities of UNIBOND SOI wafers for our production needs."
AMD PLACES MULTIMILLION-DOLLAR ORDER FOR SOITEC UNIBOND WAFERS
"We are very pleased by the successful outcome of our mutual development activities, and we are delighted that AMD chose our UNIBOND material to support their new generation of microprocessors," affirmed Soitec President Andre Auberton-Herve. "This major purchase from AMD represents another step toward the industry-wide adoption of our Smart-Cut-based SOI products as a means to deliver the increasingly stringent performance requirements of new, advanced applications."
AMD believes that SOI technology is absolutely required to push higher performance and lower power consumption in next-generation 0.13-micron processors. The company recently reported that it plans to eventually shift significant portions of its PC processor lineup to SOI.
Following closely on the heels of Soitec's introduction of its newest thin-film and ultra-thin-film UNIBOND SOI wafers, this latest order further extends Soitec's leadership in providing the semiconductor industry with high volumes of thin-film SOI wafers. The company's share of the thin-film SOI market is currently greater than 80 percent. By March 2002, Soitec's factory will reach a capacity of 800,000 200 mm equivalent wafer starts used for CMOS applications, making it the world's leading and largest SOI industrial production plant. A new plant, specifically designed for 200 mm and 300 mm SOI wafer production, is under construction and will be in operation by the middle of 2002.
About AMD
Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. is a global supplier of integrated circuits for the personal and networked computer and communications markets. AMD produces microprocessors, Flash memory devices and support circuitry for communications and networking applications. The company's products allow users to access, process and communicate information at ever-greater speeds and low costs. Additional information is available on the Internet at: http://www.amd.com.
About UNIBOND
SOI UNIBOND wafers are produced using commercially available equipment with a proprietary process called Smart Cut(r) that uses both ion implantation and wafer bonding technologies. The application of this unique concept enables Soitec to produce a high-volume product, using standard manufacturing equipment. With its new plant located in Bernin, France, Soitec now has the world's leading and largest SOI industrial production plant.
About Soitec
Silicon-On-Insulator Technologies (Soitec) is the world's leading manufacturer and supplier of SOI wafers. Soitec provides a broad range of advanced thin-film substrates for IC manufacturing, including bonded SOI (UNIBOND) and silicon-on-quartz wafers. Soitec is traded on the French "Nouveau Marche" at the Paris Stock Exchange. The stock index converted into dollars can be found on the Internet at: http://www.semindex.org. Additional information is available on the Internet at: http://www.soitec.com.
Smart Cut and UNIBOND are registered trademarks of Soitec. All others are property of their respective holders.