Samsung Semiconductor Corp is letting its sub-micron CMOS and BiCMOS semiconductor fabrication facility in San Jose go in a management buyout to a new company called Integrated Circuit Works Inc, which will also take some of Samsung’s memory and mixed-signal product design and development operations, including a small-scale pilot production plant. The buy-out is led by Dr Ilbok Lee, the former president of Samsung Semiconductor in the US, other Samsung managers, and Bentley Hall & Co. Financing for the transaction was provided by a group of venture capitalists led by Institutional Venture Partners. Terms of the deal were not given but Samsung has licensed its 0.8-micron CMOS and BiCMOS semiconductor process technologies to the new company, which will design proprietary lines of advanced 3V memory and mixed-signal products, and provide high-quality, rapid-turnround foundry services to fabless chip companies. Samsung’s volume production is done in giant fabrication facilities in Korea, including those in Kiheung, Buchon and in Onyang, near Seoul.
