Panasonic parent Matsushita Electric Industrial and chipmaker Renesas Technology have agreed to work together to develop next-generation semiconductors, the Nikkan Kogyo newspaper reported Thursday. Renesas--a joint venture between Hitachi and Mitsubishi Electric--and Matsushita will also embark on joint production of 32-nanometer chips, the newspaper said.
Chipmakers are racing to move to tinier circuit sizes to cut production cost per chip function and to enable powerful electronics that run for hours without killing the battery. But the shift also forces changes in fundamental materials and processes and exposes chip makers to huge initial costs. Rival Japanese chipmakers Toshiba and NEC Electronics said in November that they will jointly develop 32-nanometer chips. Samsung Electronics, IBM, Chartered Semiconductor Manufacturing, Infineon Technologies, STMicroelectronics, and Freescale Semiconductor have said they will work through 2010 to develop and produce 32-nanometer chips.
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