STM, Octasic Partner on VOIP Chips

GENEVA and MONTREAL -- STMicroelectronics (NYSE: STM), one of the world’s largest semiconductor manufacturers, and Octasic Inc., a leading fabless telecom semiconductor company, today announced that the two companies have signed an agreement to deliver a family of leading-edge Voice-over-Packet (VoP) ICs.

The first ICs developed under this agreement will be based on ST’s world-class 0.13-µm and 90-nm semiconductor process technology and Octasic’s designs for Voice over Packet (VoP) and Voice Quality Enhancement (VQE), which includes technology for line and acoustic echo cancellation, noise reduction capabilities, vocoding and packetization. The first IC of the family will be available in Q205, with the second one shortly afterwards. The agreement also provides for the development of future system-on-chip (SoC) VoP devices which will be implemented in 90-nm and below process technologies.

“Given our current product portfolio for this market, which includes state-of-the-art wireless base-station ICs, providing best-in-class solutions for telecom voice applications is a natural complement,” said Daniel Abecassis, Group Vice President and General Manager of the Wireless Infrastructure Division of STMicroelectronics. “Octasic is a leader in VoP and voice quality technology for telecom infrastructure markets and ST is one of the world’s largest semiconductor vendors with world-class process technology and manufacturing. The two companies will be able to leverage each other’s expertise to design and produce leading-edge products for top tier telecom customers.”

Octasic Inc.

STMicroelectronics NV