Taipei, Aug. 25, 2009 (CENS)--Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC) recently announced it had signed an agreement to transfer product fabrication processes and related activities from the U.S. chipmaker Integrated Device Technology`s (IDT`s) Hillsboro, Oregon facility.

The transfer is part of IDT`s effort to transform itself into a fabless chipmaker from a fab-lite company. It already closed a six-inch fab and will shutter the facility after completing the transfer. According to the agreement, the two companies will complete the transfer in two years.

According to IDT`s CEO and President Ted Tewksbury, the fabless model enables IDT to focus its resources and investments on innovative new product development where it can leverage its core strengths in definition and design differentiation, while outsourcing manufacturing to TSMC.

IDT`s vice president of worldwide manufacturing, Mike Hunter, noted that over the past year or so IDT had been shifting speed to develop application specific solutions for the communications, computing and consumer markets. He added that obtaining an agreement with TSMC enables the company to take full advantage of TSMC`s cutting-edge manufacturing processes and geometries and is the logical next step in the company`s transformation.

IDT product processes and geometries transferred under the agreement include existing IDT products currently manufactured at the Hillsboro factory at 0.13-micron process technology and above.

The transfer has already received approval by both companies.