Oct 13 2010
GLOBALFOUNDRIES today celebrated an important milestone in its long history of 200mm semiconductor manufacturing excellence. Five years ago, the company achieved the ISO/TS 16949:2002 quality management system standard certification for all of its Singapore-based 200mm wafer fabrication facilities.
“At GLOBALFOUNDRIES, we are committed to the successful production of automotive electronics for our customers,” said Raj Kumar, senior vice president of the 200mm Business Unit and general manager of GLOBALFOUNDRIES Singapore. “We have a long track record of supporting various automotive products since the 1990s, and in 2005, all of our 200mm fabs were certified to ISO/TS 16949 quality standards. We support our automotive customers with the most stringent requirements in the foundry industry, giving customers a wide choice of capabilities from 0.6um to 0.11um technologies.”
Semiconductor vendors serving the automotive market are subjected to stringent qualification processes. The ISO/TS 16949 certification is the highest international quality standard for the automotive industry. It is used to ensure that suppliers meet exacting specifications for the design and development, production, installation and servicing of automotive-related products. The standard encourages the use of a process approach that is aimed at improving efficiency and is designed to achieve the highest levels of product quality, productivity, competitiveness, and continual improvement.
Through the maintenance of a dedicated volume of foundry supply and an automotive service solution that tailors to each customer’s needs, GLOBALFOUNDRIES has developed a successful track record of supplying the top designers of automotive electronic products. GLOBALFOUNDRIES has been qualified by six of the top 10 automotive semiconductor suppliers, and also has achieved qualification by many of the major automotive system manufacturers. The company’s sites are continuously audited by these leading companies and have consistently ranked on par with or better than their internal operations.
The semiconductor content of automobiles is growing rapidly as manufacturers continue to integrate more electronic components into their vehicles. Several trends are driving this adoption, including the development of engine technology with improved fuel efficiency and emission control, the integration of advanced safety systems for accident avoidance, and the adoption of connectivity technologies for mobile communications, computing and infotainment. GLOBALFOUNDRIES is well positioned to take advantage of this growth, with manufacturing capabilities that span all of these emerging segments.
The ISO/TS 16949 quality system is an integral component of the GLOBALFOUNDRIES 200mm value-added solutions, which include a comprehensive set of technologies in power management, high voltage, analog/mixed signal, radio frequency, and non-volatile memory. For the automotive market, GLOBALFOUNDRIES makes use of these technologies to manufacture semiconductors that are found in a wide range of automotive systems, including infotainment systems, telematics, and control units for an automobile’s body, engine and transmission.