4 October 2011

Taiwanese GaAs foundry WIN chooses VIPER RF as approved design partner

Taiwan’s gallium arsenide (GaAs) foundry WIN Semiconductors Corp has entered into an agreement under which VIPER RF Ltd of Sunderland, UK will offer design support and specialized RF expertise to help customers develop chips using WIN’s process technologies and design tools.

Founded in 1999, WIN was the first pure-play 6-inch GaAs foundry and is said to be the largest in the world. The firm has two GaAs wafer fabs working on 150mm (6-inch) wafers, providing dedicated foundry services to both design houses and integrated design manufacturer (IDM) partners. The foundry says that it services the growing demand for low-cost manufacturing of high-speed GaAs monolithic microwave integrated circuits (MMICs) and radio frequency integrated circuits (RFICs), with expertise in HBT and pHEMT MMIC fabrication, and that its team provides continuous R&D to meet customers’ technology requirements.

VIPER RF is a privately funded microwave & RF IC design and development consultancy and product-based company founded in 2008 that addresses markets including defence and security, communications and wireless applications, covering frequencies in the range DC–100GHz.

“VIPER RF has a wealth of experience in GaAs MMIC and RFIC design, particularly in the application areas that we address, such as high-end cellular communications, WLAN products, satellite communications and automotive radar,” says WIN’s VP sales & marketing Brian Lee. “They will be able to give our customers a high level of design support and help them to achieve the best from using the WIN GaAs process,” he believes.

“We are honoured to have been chosen as one of their design resource partners,” says VIPER RF’s CEO Jim Mayock about the agreement with WIN. “We look forward to a long and mutually profitable relationship helping customers to use WIN’s foundry services.”

Both VIPER and WIN are exhibiting at European Microwave Week (EuMW 2011) in Manchester, UK (11-13 October) at booths 427 and 223, respectively.

Tags: WIN Semiconductor GaAs foundry VIPER RF

Visit: www.winfoundry.com

Visit: www.viper-rf.com