Fujitsu announces Reorganisation of its European Semiconductor Business

First with 90nm Technology

FME recently produced the first graphics controller to be fabricated in 90nm technology for embedded automotive applications. Produced in Fujitsu’s own wafer fab in Mie, Japan, this 3rd generation device, the MB86297, is able to render 10Mpolygons/sec with only 2W power consumption and uses DDR memory technology. Complemented by Fujitsu’s own API, the device is fully Open-GL ES compatible and offers special features such as resolution-independent dual display output, programmable geometry & rendering engines, 8 layer support per display channel and dual video input.

Focus on new product development

“The creation of the Graphics Competence Center allows us to focus more strongly on new product development and local support, thus extending our lead in the graphics controller market,” says Markus Mierse, Senior Manager, Business Unit Graphics Solutions at FME. He continues, “I am confident that my new Group will quickly come to market with new graphics controllers, supplementing FME’s already extensive roadmap. This ensures that there will be an FME graphics controller for all our target applications, which will assist customers to develop their products in the shortest time possible. The excellent scalability and binary compatibility of all our devices means that our products are interchangeable, allowing customers to move to higher- or lower-end devices without the hassle of major software changes.”

This fully integrated team representing all necessary units for local graphics controller definition, hardware & software development, marketing and technical support, will be measured against its success in embedded graphics. Milestones for the new Business Unit to achieve include: to jointly develop the first product with Japan by the end of CY07, and to achieve profitability in the 2008/9 timeframe. “Our mission is to be number one in embedded automotive graphics, while providing European and world-wide customers with our optimised and right-sized graphics controllers for the embedded market with first-class customer hardware & software support,” Mierse added.

Graphics Competence Center

Tasks for the new Competence Center in Neuried, include hardware design in line with Fujitsu Japan to cover logic design of, and macros for, graphics controllers; chip architecture, prototyping of new concepts, etc., and software design to include the development of drivers (Open-GL, Open-VG, etc.), customisation of APIs, SoC software and tools. Application engineering support will be provided including in-house technical/customer seminars, evaluation boards, etc., with marketing responsible for pricing; the monitoring of designs, revenue and projects, partner networks and customer contact.

Shortest Possible Turn-around-Time (TAT)

The decision to establish a Graphics Competence Center was taken as recently as April this year. Interviews were conducted during May and contracts were offered in June .The initial team of 30 specialists comprises 4 existing Fujitsu people, 22 new employees and currently 4 vacant positions with interviews underway. The decision to locate the offices in Neuried, just South of Munich, which has good autobahn connections and excellent infrastructure, was taken in July, with a ‘Go-live’ date of October 2 – just 6 months Turn-around-Time from ‘Start-to-Start’!

From day one the team will be working on a number of projects including a short-term (3-month) project for the development of a device based on an existing design – but with a modified set of interfaces; and a mid-term (6-month) joint project with Fujitsu Japan to develop a new high-end device – both for key automotive applications.

The Future

For the future, FME’s plan is to grow its Graphics Business faster than the market by aggressively defending its number-one position in embedded automotive graphics while expanding into other challenging areas include markets such as hand-held navigation systems. On-going investment in Fujitsu’s own, in-house 90nm process technology fully supports these plans.