RFID Device becomes Brazils First Homegrown Chip to Reach Mass Manufacturing at X-FAB
PORTO ALEGRE, Brazil – Oct 18, 2011: CEITEC S.A., a Brazilian company that develops and produces application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs) today announced that it has reached volume production for the first semiconductor device designed in-house. The device announced is being manufactured at X-FAB Semiconductor Foundries in Germany. Today’s announcement marks a major milestone in the country’s effort to develop a domestic microelectronics industry.

CEITEC’s Chip do Boi is an advanced LF-RFID device designed for use in Brazil’s cattle industry as part of a leading-edge system to track livestock. Forecasted domestic demand for the chip is as high as 1.5 million units for 2012 with an expected minimum growth rate of 10 percent a year over the next decade. Chip do Boi is the first chip designed in Brazil by Brazilian engineers in a company that was home grown and home funded to reach volume production at a world-class semiconductor manufacturing facility. CEITEC has been guiding the efforts to foster industry advances in electronics since 2008.

“Today’s volume manufacturing milestone means that chips designed in Brazil will soon hit the market, but more importantly, it signifies the country’s ability to produce world-class technology and lays the foundation for a growing,...