Spansion enlists TSMC for manufacturing help

Spansion, the flash memory company created out of groups from Advanced Micro Devices and Fujitsu, has linked a deal with Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. under which TSMC will make chips for Spansion so Spansion can concentrate on advancing its product lines.

Under the deal, TSMC will produce flash on the 110-nanometer process for Spansion. Spansion, meanwhile, will try to advance its technology by shrinking the size of its chips, particularly the MirrorBit chips that hold two bits per memory cell. The company has had to delay products because of the difficulty of shrinking MirrorBit chips.

Earlier this year, AMD said it would spin off Spansion in an IPO, but a recent successive financial losses and market share losses make it a tough sell, say analysts.