Brite Semiconductor, CEVA and SMIC collaborate on IoT ASIC platform

SHANGHAI, June 2, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Brite Semiconductor, an emerging ASIC design services firm headquartered in Shanghai, China, announced today the collaborative development of a design platform roadmap with key industry partners, including Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation ("SMIC"). The platform is designed to support Internet-of-Things ("IoT") IC's addressing the China market's emerging needs for smart devices, wirelessly-connected to Cloud infrastructure.

Brite is developing its China IoT ASIC Platform based on SMIC's 55nm low-leakage (LL) and ultra-low-power (ULP) process roadmap, which includes embedded flash (eFlash) memory. Over the design platform's lifetime, these processes can significantly reduce operating voltages to lower both active power and standby power consumption, which will be the best choice for IoT devices including smart home and wearable products.

"An early leader in custom design services in China, Brite is uniquely positioned to work with SMIC foundry services in providing rapid and optimized IoT device realization for China's emerging market opportunities," stated Dr. Charles Zhi, President and CEO of Brite Semiconductor, "Key to IoT applications is wireless connectivity and our CEVA platform cooperation assures seamless connectivity at the periphery of the Cloud."

"SMIC is constantly developing advanced technologies. Based on ULP technology platform, we have taken the lead in offering ULP foundation IP library, commercial Bluetooth and BLE IPs, and modularized embedded non-volatile memory (eNVM) to form a comprehensive IoT based technology platform," stated Dr. TianShen Tang, Senior VP of SMIC Design Service. "We're glad to see Brite has collaborated with other strategic partners to develop the IoT ASIC platform together. We believe that the cooperation between SMIC and Brite in IoT can help make China's rapidly developing infrastructure the smartest in the world."

CEVA, already a Brite and SMIC IP partner, is collaborating with Brite on Bluetooth baseband and DSP platform integration into the China IoT ASIC platform. CEVA's Bluetooth IP consists of a hardware baseband coupled with a controller software stack up to HCI. Compliant with all versions up to Bluetooth Smart Ready 4.2 (dual mode), its innovative low power architecture makes it an ideal fit for wireless combo, microcontroller and application processors to address a wide range of embedded applications. For IoT applications requiring local intelligent processing, the CEVA DSPs can be integrated into the platform to enable applications such as voice activation, speech recognition, sensor fusion, face detection and fingerprint recognition. Benefits include reduced latency for time-critical applications, increased privacy, lower data transfer overhead and lower overall power consumption.

"We are pleased to partner with Brite Semi in offering their ASIC platform customers world-class connectivity and processing capabilities for their customized wireless IoT devices," said Eran Briman, Vice President, Marketing at CEVA. "Our Bluetooth IP delivers the lowest power consumption for both Bluetooth Smart and Smart Ready devices, while our DSP platforms bring the capability to handle the intelligence processing directly on the device, where required."

In April of this year, The National Center for Advanced Packaging Co., Ltd., a company dedicated to developing and commercializing advanced packaging and system integration technologies, joined with Brite to announce a research and development (R&D) collaboration targeting single and multi-die Systems-on-Chip (SoCs ) and System-in-Package (SiPs ). This collaboration will include support for the China IoT ASIC Platform roadmap and SoC integration into multi-die packaging which will be a key to successful IoT solutions that integrate sensors, MCUs, and radios into a single package. 

Come see Brite Semiconductor at our joint booth with SMIC at the annual Design Automation Conference (DAC), Booth 2803, Moscone Center, San Francisco, California, USA the week of June 8th and learn more about this exciting new development and our collaborative partnerships.

About Brite Semiconductor

Brite Semiconductor is a rapidly emerging ASIC design services company providing customers with ASIC/SOC chip design and manufacturing services. The company was co-founded by Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation and Open-Silicon, as well as venture capitalist firms from China and Silicon Valley. As strategic partners, SMIC provides Brite Semiconductor strong technical and manufacturing support and leverages Brite's design capabilities in test chip development. Targeted at advanced processing nodes to 28nm with high-end SoC design services, Brite Semiconductor provides customers with flexible design and turn-key services. Brite offers customers RTL/netlist to seamless chip delivery with enhanced economic value for low-risk solutions. For more information, please refer to the Brite Semiconductor website at www.britesemi.com.

About SMIC

Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation ("SMIC") (NYSE: SMI; SEHK: 981) is one of the leading semiconductor foundries in the world and the largest and most advanced foundry in mainland China. SMIC provides integrated circuit (IC) foundry and technology services at 0.35-micron to 28-nanometer. Headquartered in Shanghai, China, SMIC has a 300mm wafer fabrication facility (fab) and a 200mm mega-fab in Shanghai; a 300mm mega-fab and a second majority owned 300mm fab under development for advance nodes in Beijing; and 200mm fabs in Tianjin and Shenzhen. SMIC also has marketing and customer service offices in the U.S., Europe, Japan, and Taiwan, and a representative office in Hong Kong. For more information, please visit www.smics.com.

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