On February 27, 2006, Sipex Corp. signed a definitive foundry-services agreement with Hangzhou Silan Microelectronics Co. Ltd. and its affiliate, Hangzhou Silan Integrated Circuit Co. Ltd. The deal supported Sipex’s plan to stop manufacturing at its Milpitas facility and move wafer production to Silan’s operation in Hangzhou, China. Financial terms were not disclosed.
What the agreement covered
The arrangement joined manufacturing with the agreements needed to enable it. Its documents included a process-technology transfer and license agreement, a wafer-supply agreement, a product-license agreement, and a production-equipment sale agreement. In practical terms, Silan would make and supply wafers using Sipex maskworks and licensed technology, while receiving rights to specified Sipex products.
The companies described the transaction as covering foundry manufacturing, product licenses, process-technology transfers, and fab-equipment sales. The announcement did not disclose financial terms.
Why Sipex moved production to China
Sipex had announced that it would cease manufacturing in Milpitas and outsource production to Silan’s Hangzhou operation. The technology transfer was central to that change: Silan needed the relevant process know-how to reproduce qualified production, rather than simply receiving a wafer order without manufacturing information.
Recommended Free Tools
#1 Best Overall
Sipex CEO Ralph Schmitt said, “We are pleased with the progress of transferring our process technologies to Silan. They have been a great partner to date, and with the formalization of our relationship I expect we will be even more successful together.”
What technology, equipment, and product rights moved
The formal agreements covered transfer and licensing of Sipex process technology, licenses for specified products, wafer supply, and the sale or transfer of production equipment. A contemporaneous Chinese report described the technology as including BiCMOS and said a six-inch chip-production line was transferred. It also reported that Silan could produce and sell some Sipex products in Greater China.
Those Greater China product rights were not the same thing as wafer supply: the agreement included both a manufacturing relationship and product licensing. The available descriptions do not establish that Silan received rights to all Sipex products or markets.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.How much capacity did the Silan fab have?
Sipex reported that Silan had two five-inch fab lines, with monthly output figures of 20,000 IC wafers and 20,000 discrete-product wafers. Sipex said the plan was to ramp the Silan fab to 34,000 wafers per month, with Sipex equipment sent to Silan after the transition.
Do these 3 things before closing this tab:
1Fix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitches2Clear out junk files and repair common Windows errors3Scan for outdated or missing drivers - takes under a minuteThe 34,000 figure was a planned capacity, not a reported achieved output. The announcement did not provide a date for reaching that level or clarify how the planned total related to the two separate monthly line figures.
Quick Recap
Product prices and availability are accurate as of the date/time indicated and are subject to change. Any price and availability information displayed on Amazon at the time of purchase will apply.
