Alchip Explained

Alchip Technologies, Inc.
Native Name:世芯電子股份有限公司
Native Name Lang:zh-TW
Type:Public
Foundation:2003
Hq Location City:Taipei, Taiwan
Key People:Kinying Kwan (Founder and Chairman), Johnny Shen (CEO)
Industry:Semiconductors
Products:ASIC
Num Employees:574
Num Employees Year:2023
Revenue:NT$30.482 billion
Revenue Year:2023
Net Income:NT$3.325 billion
Net Income Year:2023
Assets:NT$32.458 billion
Assets Year:2023
Equity:NT$18.034 billion
Equity Year:2023
Footnotes:[1] [2]

Alchip is a fabless semiconductor company founded in 2003 and headquartered in Taipei, Taiwan. Alchip specializes in the design and manufacture of digital CMOS ASICs.

Location

Alchip's headquarters is in Taipei, Taiwan. Alchip also has locations in Santa Clara, California in the US, Shin-Yokohama in Japan, Shanghai, Wuxi, Hefei and Jinan in China, and Hsinchu in Taiwan.[3]

History

In April 2002 Cadence acquired Simplex Solutions, an ASIC design services company.[4] Alchip was founded six months later by Kinying Kwan and other former Simplex employees as a fabless ASIC supplier. Simplex Solutions had designed the graphics ASIC for Sony's PlayStation 2 game console.[5] Sony became an important customer of Alchip as well. In 2006 80% of Alchip's revenues were from Japan, and most of that was from Sony.[6] In September 2008 Alchip's relationship with Sony took another step forward when it was announced that it would partner with Sony's microelectronics to provide packaging solutions for Alchip's customer's ASICs.[7] Over the past decade, Alchip has received investments from several tech heavyweights, including Global Future Group, Investar, AcerVC, Cisco Systems, C2Capital, and notably Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC), the biggest contract chipmaker in the world, owns a 20% stake in the firm.[8] [9] On December 23, 2010, Alchip went public and was listed on the Taiwan Emergent Market under the stock ticker number 3661. On October 28, 2014, Alchip debuted on the Taiwan Stock Exchange's main market. This move opened Alchip to institutional and private investors and boosted its profile within the industry.

In April 2021 the US Government blacklisted seven Chinese supercomputing companies due to alleged involvement in supplying equipment to the PLA, Chinese military–industrial complex, and WMD programs. In response Alchip and TSMC suspended new orders from Chinese supercomputing company Tianjin Phytium Information Technology. Phytium accounted for 39% of Alchip’s revenue.[10]

Products

Alchip provides physical design, design for test insertion, package design, product qualification, IP licensing, and manufacturing services for digital CMOS ASICs. Alchip has announced products in 180 nm, 130 nm, 90 nm, 65 nm, 40 nm, 32 nm, 28 nm, and 16 nm process technologies. Customer ASICs have been announced in a wide range of applications including medical image processing, supercomputing, crypto-mining and networking.[11] [12] [13]

Manufacturing

Alchip adopts an open foundry model and outsources semiconductor manufacturing to TSMC, UMC, SMIC, and Samsung. It also works with captive fab such as SONY and Toshiba. As of 2014, over 85% of Alchip projects are outsourced to TSMC. Alchip also outsources packaging, assembly, and testing. Alchip owns a Verigy 93K tester platform on which it performs test development and the test of ASIC prototypes.[14]

See also

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Alchip Technologies Sets 2023 Financial Records - Alchip . 2024-08-13 . webname . zh-TW.
  2. https://www.alchip.com/upload/2024_05_07/3_202405071808207uk3awoPN0.pdf 2023 Annual Report
  3. Web site: AlChip Global Locations. 2008-10-07. https://web.archive.org/web/20080918063047/http://www.alchip.com/about_contact.php?url=6. 2008-09-18. dead.
  4. News: Cadence Design System to purchase Simplex Solutions for 5.71 times revenue. 2002-05-02 . Weekly Corporate Growth Report.
  5. Web site: InsideChips. March 2004. 2008-10-07. https://web.archive.org/web/20110707104555/http://www.alchip.com/previous/web/pdf/Alchip.pdf. 2011-07-07. dead.
  6. Web site: Alchip Leverages Success in Japan to Enter Global Market . June 2006 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20110927210743/http://techon.nikkeibp.co.jp/article/HONSHI/20061026/122748/ . 2011-09-27 .
  7. Web site: Alchip Partners with Sony for SoC and ASIC . 2008-09-17 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20110710172138/http://www.ednasia.com/article-21809-alchippartnerswithsonyforsocandasic-asia.html . 2011-07-10 .
  8. Web site: TSMC 6-K August 2008 pg. 42. August 2008.
  9. Web site: About Alchip > Investors. August 2008. 2008-10-07. https://web.archive.org/web/20080918063107/http://www.alchip.com/about_investors.php?url=3. 2008-09-18. dead.
  10. News: Taiwan says its chip firms will adhere to new US rules blacklisting China supercomputing entities . www.reuters.com . 14 April 2021 . Reuters . 14 April 2021.
  11. Web site: Alchip Technologies selected to provide Faster Time-to-Market TurnkeySolution for Mitsubishi Electric Corporation. 2004-10-04. 2008-10-07. https://web.archive.org/web/20110707104712/http://www.alchip.com/news_01.php?id=35&typeid=1. 2011-07-07. dead.
  12. Web site: Alchip Delivers First Silicon Success to TeraRecon's XTrillion Processor Chip. 2006-04-20. 2008-10-07. https://web.archive.org/web/20110707105446/http://www.alchip.com/news_01.php?id=27&typeid=1. 2011-07-07. dead.
  13. Web site: Alchip Unveils First Silicon Success of the SING Processor for World's Fastest Supercomputer Developed by the University of Tokyo. 2006-12-12. 2008-10-07. https://web.archive.org/web/20110707105602/http://www.alchip.com/news_01.php?id=26&typeid=1. 2011-07-07. dead.
  14. Web site: Alchip Selects Verigy V93000 SOC Series Pin Scale as Next Generation Test Platform. 2007-09-15.