Kilopass Technology Inc and United Microelectronics Corporation have expanded their existing manufacturing license agreement. In addition to the 40nm low-power process in the current agreement, the extension will cover UMC technology processes spanning from 55nm to 130nm. Future plans include UMC’s 28nm High-K metal gate (HKMG) and Poly/SiOn processes, based upon customer demand. This technology roadmap supports the companies’ mutual customers to achieve leading edge SoCs with Kilopass’ XPM, Gusto, and Itera NVM products for a wide range of UMC process nodes.

This agreement broadens UMC’s engagement with Kilopass’ based on increased customer adoption and the leadership position Kilopass has in embedded logic NVM technology. Kilopass perceives design activity in greater China has increased rapidly, and that UMC’s dominance has become a significant factor to Kilopass’ continued growth.

The initial partnership started in 2010 with UMC’s 40LP process, which is available now. With customer demand increasing for other technology nodes, both companies decided to provide anti-fuse embedded NVM as an off-the-shelf ready product at 130/110/55nm processes with future plans to include HKMG processes.

The agreement will start with the foundry’s 55SP (Standard Performance 55-nanometer) process, a sweet spot for several consumer infotainment projects. Both companies expect to start delivering 55SP solutions in Q4, 2011 with the rest of the roadmap delivered in 2012. UMC’s 55SP delivers competitive price/performance and turnaround time while Kilopass offers these customers an embedded NVM solution that can provide a broad product range from 4Kb to 4Mb, covering an extensive ecosystem.