Toppan Photomasks and Cypress Semiconductor Corp. Sign Advanced Technology Development and Supply Agreements
Toppan Photomasks, Inc. and Cypress Semiconductor Corp. (NYSE: CY) today announced an agreement to jointly develop advanced photomask technologies supporting the production of high-performance integrated circuits at 65nm design rules and below.
The companies also have entered into a separate three-year supply agreement in which Cypress has named Toppan Photomasks its strategic supplier of commercial photomasks. As part of this supply agreement, Toppan Photomasks will supply Cypress with a majority of its photomask requirements for commercial production during the next three years. Both the joint development project (JDP) and the strategic supplier agreement are extensions of pacts the two companies signed in 2002.
"Building on our existing JDP with a leading global device manufacturer like Cypress underscores the value these partnerships have in improving yields and accelerating technology," said Jim Northup, chief operating officer, Toppan Photomasks. "Moreover, continuing our primary-supplier agreement with Cypress confirms Toppan Photomasks' leadership in providing our customers throughout the world with the technology to overcome barriers of deep submicron design rules."
"Cypress produces high-performance integrated circuits for a variety of markets including consumer and computation, mobile handsets, network infrastructure, solar energy and automotive. The company's industry-leading products include USB controllers, CMOS image sensors, timing technology solutions, Programmable System-on-Chip (PSoC™) mixed-signal arrays, WirelessUSB™ radio-system-on-a-chip devices, synchronous, fast and MicroPower static RAMs, high-efficiency silicon solar cells and modules and optoelectronic devices for high-performance printing and displays.
"Advanced photomasks are crucial to the development and timely delivery of technologies required by our customers throughout the world," said Shahin Sharifzadeh, executive vice president of manufacturing and fab administration at Cypress. "The successes of our existing JDP with Toppan Photomasks in tailoring sophisticated, cost-effective microimaging solutions has enabled Cypress to achieve our technology roadmap goals, and we look forward to even better results in the years ahead."
The agreement extension with Cypress is among Toppan's growing list of advanced development collaborations with leading semiconductor manufacturers for customized photomask technology. In addition to Cypress, Toppan maintains collaborations with AMD and Infineon Technologies, among others.
About Cypress
Cypress solutions are at the heart of any system that is built to perform: consumer, computation, data communications, automotive, industrial, and solar power. Leveraging a strong commitment to customer service and performance-based process and manufacturing expertise, Cypress's product portfolio includes a broad selection of wired and wireless USB devices, CMOS image sensors, timing solutions, network search engines, specialty memories, high-bandwidth synchronous and micropower memory products, optical solutions, and reconfigurable mixed-signal arrays. Cypress stock is traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol CY. More information about the company is available online at www.cypress.com.
About Toppan Photomasks
Toppan Photomasks, Inc. is a wholly owned subsidiary of Toppan Printing Co., Ltd. a diversified global company with revenue in excess of $13 billion in fiscal 2005. Together with the photomasks business of Toppan Printing, the company forms the world's premier photomask provider. Utilizing operations within the industry's most advanced and largest network of manufacturing facilities, Toppan Photomasks offers a comprehensive range of photomask technologies and research and development capabilities to meet the increasingly sophisticated and divergent product-and-service requirements of the global semiconductor industry. Toppan Photomasks is headquartered in Round Rock, Texas. For more informat ion visit www.photomask.com.
About Toppan Printing
Founded in 1900, Toppan Printing has branched into seven diverse business fields including security cards, commercial printing, publications printing, e-business, packaging, electronics and optronics. In the fiscal year ended March 31, 2005, Toppan posted revenues of ¥1,413.6 billion (approximately US$13.5 billion) and ended the year with approximately 32,700 employees. For more information visit www.toppan.co.jp.
Company Contacts
Tom BlakeToppan Photomasks, Inc.
Tel: (512) 310-6562
tom.blake@photomask.com
Ed Rebello
Cypress Semiconductor Corp.
Tel: (408) 545-7665
ewr@cypress.com