Renesas Electronics and Link_A_Media Continue Partnership

Renesas Electronics Corporation and Link_A_Media Devices Corporation (LAMD) plan to extend their strategic HDD (hard disk drive) system-on-chips (SoCs) partnership into the next generation SoCs for both the HDD and solid state drive (SSD) storage markets. Since the start of the partnership in 2005, LAMD has developed and shipped HDD controller SoCs through the former NEC Electronics’ advanced manufacturing processes.

"We are delighted to extend our partnership with Renesas Electronics to deliver SoC solutions to the HDD and SSD markets. Since the merger between NEC Electronics and Renesas Technology in April, 2010, the new company, Renesas Electronics, is the 3rd largest semiconductor company in the world (based on CY2009 revenues) and can provide LAMD unprecedented access to leading-edge semiconductor manufacturing processes and one of the broadest portfolios of intellectual property functions (IP) in the industry," said Dr. Hemant Thapar, Chief Executive Officer, Link_A_Media Devices Corporation.

"Link_A_Media Devices’ SoC designs have been well received by the storage customers," stated Mr. Kazuyoshi Yamada, senior vice president, Renesas Electronics Corporation. "The combination of their technologies with Renesas Electronics’ advanced manufacturing process technologies will enable us to offer their customers even more compelling solutions."

In recent years, information storage needs have increased in digital content such as music and video, reflected in the growing demand for higher capacity storage across all form factors. According to the reports from IDC, a leading provider of global IT search and advice, the number of HDD shipments is expected to continue growing from 557 million units in 2009 to over 811 million units in 2013, with the highest growth expected in personal storage and portable PCs. IDC also expects the SSD market, although smaller, to grow overall from 2008-2013 at a 54 percent compound annual growth rate (CAGR), reaching 84 million units shipped in 2013.

To address these markets, Renesas Electronics and LAMD have been collaborating on SoCs based on LAMD’s low density parity check (LDPC) Error Correction Coding (ECC), and Data Recovery technologies and Renesas Electronics’ semiconductor manufacturing processes and standard IP blocks. These technologies enable increased noise immunity in data detection, higher format efficiency, and improved drive yields along with lowered power consumption. By combining these SoC technologies with LAMD’s emerging shingled write recording technology, HDD OEMs can increase the densities needed to meet the storage capacity growth requirements.

By extending the strategic partnership, Renesas Electronics and LAMD aim to continue to offer products to meet the demands of the HDD and SSD markets, and continue to develop innovative solutions to address the needs of this market.