08 Jan 2012

Intel Corp. Recently unveiled the newest partnership with Taiwan research powerhouse ITRI ( Industrial Technology Research Institute ) , a 6000 people strong government-backed research institute in Hsinchu, Middle Taiwan, where about 80 percent of the staff is said to be academics.

A US$ 1,5 billion research program is to run over the next five years to develop new-generation memory technologoes for smaller and ?greener“ chips for mobile devices and cloud-technology-based data centers.

Intel is to inject US$500 million in funding and resources, while ITRI and the Taiwan Ministry of Economic Affairs would channel US$ 1 billion into this research project.

Instead of developing process technologies for chip manufacturing, the collaboration is aimed at finding the optimized structure of memory chips that could provide better performance with lower power consumption, Intel told a media briefing in Taipei.

The initial project will be to develop super-fast, but extremely energy-efficient memory technologies for future ultra-mobile devices, such as Ultrabooks, tablet computers and smartphones, as well as for the exascale and cloud-mega-data centers of tomorrow.

With the many patented technologies from INTEL and ITRI solid 3D IC research and development capabilities, this cooperation will enable the development of future memory technologies, said Wu Cheng-wen, director general of hte Research Institute Information and Communication Laboratories.

The government-backed ITRI has long been playing a key role in developing cutting-edge technologies to support the development of Taiwan industries, especially the semiconductor sector.