Nov. 23, 2022 –
By Alan Patterson, EETimes (November 22, 2022)
SkyWater Technology CEO Thomas Sonderman is building a new type of chip foundry that shifts onerous multi-billion–dollar fab investments to customers who bear most of the cost.
The only 100% U.S.-owned foundry was created in 2017 after private equity investor Oxbow Industries acquired Cypress Foundry Solutions, a subsidiary of now-defunct Cypress Semiconductor, and installed former AMD executive Sonderman at the helm of the new company.
By creating a “technology-foundry model, we went after this sweet spot of the customization/volume gap that required a lot of innovation,” Sonderman told EE Times in an exclusive interview. “It also allowed us to market ourselves as different than just another specialty foundry.”