Faraday Technology Corp. is rolling out a physical layer and a controller core for the Serial ATA II spec aimed at storage devices. The two parts were designed for a 180-nanometer process of foundry United Microelectronics Corp., as opposed to the 130-nm process that competitors such as LSI Logic Corp. and Marvell Semiconductors Inc. use for SATA devices. Faraday believes its 180-nm cores will open the door to less-expensive ASICs for the storage interconnect. “The 130-nm process technology is very expensive and time-consuming in the fab. Our customers are trying to avoid going to 130 nm whenever possible,” said Charlie Cheng, president of Faraday Technology USA.
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