ASX-listed memory developer Weebit Nano (WBT) has entered into its first commercial deal with a subsidiary of semiconductor foundry SkyWater Technology Inc (NASDAQ: SKYT, US$1.3B market cap) to take its ReRAM technology to volume production.
Weebit’s first commercial deal is a critical milestone for the company, providing commercial validation of its innovative ReRAM technology and commencing the growth trajectory for its cutting-edge technology onto customers’ chips.
SkyWater is a US-based and US-owned, US Department of Defense accredited pure play technology foundry, specialising in advanced innovation engineering services and volume manufacturing of a wide variety of differentiated integrated circuits (ICs).
The partnership includes both technology transfer and qualification, and licensing agreements. Under the technology transfer and qualification agreement, Weebit’s embedded ReRAM technology will be transferred to SkyWater’s production fab and then qualified for volume production by the end of 2022.
Following qualification of the technology, SkyWater intends to offer Weebit’s technology to customers as embedded, non-volatile memory (NVM) IP on the company’s 130nm CMOS process under a non-exclusive license agreement.
SkyWater’s 130nm process is a sweet spot for a broad range of applications such as analog, power management, automotive, IoT and rad-hard designs. In these application domains, Weebit’s ReRAM provides significant advantages such as cost effectiveness, enhanced endurance and retention even at high temperature ranges, good tolerance to radiation and electromagnetic fields, and zero interference with front-end-of-line (FEOL) analog components.
Commercialisation of ReRAM technology will provide enhancements to a range of new electronics in industries such as automotive, which require high-temperature performance. Weebit’s ReRAM allows semiconductor memory elements to be significantly faster, less expensive, more reliable and more energy efficient than those using existing embedded Flash memory solutions. The technology focuses on enabling IoT devices and edge computing architectures and will benefit neuromorphic computing opportunities for machine learning and artificial intelligence applications.
Commenting on the company’s first commercial agreement, Weebit CEO Coby Hanoch said, “SkyWater is an ideal partner because of the company’s commitment to technology innovation and supporting their customers’ differentiated products. Our technology, which is highly efficient and extremely robust, is enabling greater performance and lower power memory solutions for a range of new electronic devices. We look forward to collaborating with SkyWater – starting immediately – to ensure smooth technology transfer to their U.S. production fab.”
SkyWater president and CEO Thomas Sonderman said, “As a proven trusted technology foundry, SkyWater helps customers differentiate their silicon through innovative technologies, materials and processes. Weebit’s ReRAM is at the forefront of non-volatile memory technology and is laying the groundwork for exciting new memory solutions. We’re excited to work with Weebit toward building its technology into our growing library of silicon-proven and trusted design IP that our customers can leverage in building highly differentiated SoC designs.”
Weebit’s share price closed up more than 27% to $3.59.
