RUSNANO announced this week that it will be co-investing in the development of MEMS components for use in sensors, computing and telecommunications equipment. SiTime, a US based startup company that focuses on MEMS oscillators and silicon timing solutions, is going to be partnering with RUSNANO in this initiative. The project has a total budget of $22 million of which RUSNANO will finance up to $15 million. The resources will be directed toward expanding SiTime's research base, broadening the geography of its sales, and establishing a development center in Russia.
Under the terms of the investment agreement, which was approved by RUSNANO's Executive Board, SiTime will establish a new division in Russia where it will design the next generation of MEMS based oscillators. The company currently has R&D centers in California and Ukraine. The products that SiTime designs are produced at plants in the US and Taiwan at Jazz and TSMC fabs, respectively. There are no plans to build proprietary production capacity under the project.
SiTime specializes in clock generators used in data transmission equipment. Most systems of this kind employ quartz resonators, which are produced and assembled individually using mechanical means. Quartz resonators are one of the few discrete components that cannot be integrated into a CMOS chip -- the chips are sometimes too large and require installation in their own ceramic packaging. SiTime's MEMS based resonators can be integrated into any system-in-package or multi-chip-module. SiTime also claims that its products are stable at high temperatures; their digital frequency control is precise; they have long service lives and consume relatively little energy.
The RUSNANO-SiTime project will sell infrastructure solutions for telecommunications, computing equipment, navigation systems, sensor networks for environmental control, and other applications requiring precise frequency generators. The global market for synchronization devices -- including resonators, generators, and synchronizing chips -- is estimated at $5 billion. The Russian market for oscillators is estimated to be approximately $80 million.
RUSNANO was established in March 2011 as an open joint-stock company through reorganization of state corporation Russian Corporation of Nanotechnologies. RUSNANO's mission is to develop the Russian nanotechnology industry through co-investment in nanotechnology projects with substantial economic potential or social benefit. The Government of the Russian Federation owns 100 percent of the shares in RUSNANO. Anatoly Chubais is CEO and chairman of the Executive Board of RUSNANO.
Work to establish MEMS and nanotechnology infrastructure and training for specialists, formerly conducted by the Russian Corporation of Nanotechnologies, has been entrusted to the Fund for Infrastructure and Educational Programs, a non-commercial fund also established through reorganization of the Russian Corporation of Nanotechnologies.
SiTime offers MEMS based silicon timing solutions that replace legacy quartz products. The company claims to have 85% of the MEMS osciallators market share with over 45 million devices shipped. Other significant players in the MEMS oscillator space include Discera, Silicon Labs and Sand 9.
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