San Jose, Calif. — Cypress Semiconductor Corp. has plans to triple the manufacturing capacity for its TrueTouch touchscreen controllers with the first additional capacity coming on-line in the first quarter of 2011. The expansion is expected to be completed in the third quarter.
Cypress’s Fab 4 in Bloomington, Minnesota, and Grace Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, Cypress’s primary foundry partner, will triple 2011 capacity for the S8 manufacturing process compared to 2010 levels.
Cypress also manufactures its PSoC 3 and PSoC 5, CapSense and NVSRAM products on the S8 process. The company’s S8 process is based on 0.13-micron SONOS (Silicon Oxide Nitride Oxide Silicon) embedded nonvolatile memory technology. SONOS is highly compatible with standard CMOS technologies and offers numerous advantages including high endurance, low power, and radiation hardness, said Cypress.
“With a record number of design wins in high-volume mobile phone, tablets and other large screen platforms, we’re moving aggressively to ensure stable, ample and timely supply of our TrueTouch products,” said Norm Taffe, executive vice president of Cypress’s Consumer and Computation Division, in a statement. “We’re also preparing for our next-generation PSoC and CapSense products to grow this year. This expansion gives our customers confidence that we can handle steep ramps in demand for their hot new products.”
“This is an example of our flexible manufacturing strategy working as planned,” said Shahin Sharifzadeh, executive vice president of worldwide Manufacturing and Operations for Cypress, in a statement.
“We can share the costs of this expansion while ensuring that we have capacity in place to meet rapidly growing demand,” he added.