Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI), with the support of Taiwan’s Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA), announced the commencement of the collaboration with the University of Southern California (USC) on IC design and development, IP support, and silicon shuttle services. By enhancing heterogeneous integration, computing and memory technologies, the cooperation is expected to integrate multidisciplinary R&D results and advance chip manufacturing to boost next-generation semiconductor development.
The MOEA stressed that the cooperation will combine the strengths from ITRI and USC to drive advancements in the global semiconductor industry. USC’s Metal Oxide Semiconductor Implementation Service (The MOSIS Service) has long provided silicon prototyping and low volume production services and has been working with global leading semiconductor foundries such as TSMC, while ITRI has been dedicated to developing advanced semiconductor technologies and assisting Taiwan’s semiconductor supply chain players to optimise and upgrade their products. It is expected that their joint work can connect key chip partners in the US and address the global trends in AI computing applications.
ITRI and USC signed a memorandum of cooperation in November, 2021 that focuses on chip design and development, IP authorisation, shared wafer trial production, and next-generation semiconductor R&D. ITRI and USC will collaborate via an institution-to-institution mechanism and build a customer service business model that provides Taiwan’s companies with chip packaging and related downstream services following trial production.
– Edwin Liu, ITRI President
The research teams at USC’s Electrical and Computer Engineering Department (ECE) and Information Sciences Institute (ISI) with strong profiles in artificial intelligence, radio-frequency and millimetre-wave IC designs, analogue and mixed-signal circuits, quantum computing, and optoelectronics can extend their global collaborations with ITRI’s outstanding teams.
The joint efforts between USC and ITRI laid out a new arena of USC’s global research and development, being a marriage of USC’s first-tier, fundamental electronic and optoelectronic research record and capabilities and ITRI’s research and development with a unique focus on industry application and commercialisation.
The MOSIS Service has the leading-edge capabilities to support semiconductor design and manufacturing and looked forward to seeing the fruition of semiconductor projects that will benefit innovative start-up companies in the US and Taiwan.
ITRI is committed to promoting technological innovation to assist in industrial upgrading and transformation. In its 2030 Technology Strategy and Roadmap, ITRI is strengthening R&D in semiconductors and intelligentisation enabling technology to support multiple applications in 5G, big data, IoT, and AI. It is hoped that the expertise of ITRI and USC will create a win-win situation for all parties and solidify the foundation for next-generation semiconductor development.
As reported by OpenGov Asia, ITRI announced it will introduce AI, robotics, and ICT technologies. ITRI’s featured technologies include the RGB-D AI Robot, the first collaborative robot that integrates smart 3D vision as a built-in standard; the Autonomous Selfie Drone, which flies itself to take the best picture based on advanced photography techniques; and the Interactive Time Machine, which automatically creates a unique real-time full-body 3D interactive avatar and experience combining a user’s motion, 3D model, surroundings, and display.
The RGB-D AI Robot is the world’s first collaborative robot featuring 3D vision as a built-in standard. The smart 3D vision sensing technology functions as a pair of sharp eyes on a robotic arm. It reduces the size of the sensor by 168 times compared with other robots, while increasing the sensing speed by 38.6 times.
The Autonomous Selfie Drone frees the user from photography courses; does all the hard composition, angle, and lighting preparation; and flies itself to take the best selfie picture using AI algorithms and data acquired from essential photography techniques. Users who know photography also can follow their individual preferences to set up different close-up angles, photography body ratio, and compositions.
