Silterra Malaysia Sdn Bhd, a Khazanah Nasional-owned semiconductor wafer maker, foresees a growth of between 7-10
per cent this year via the tie-up with MIMOS Bhd today.

Silterra has entered into a smart partnership with MIMOS to produce Power Management Integrated Circuit (PowerMOS) wafers for its global market.

Its Chief Executive Officer Dr Kamarulzaman Mohamed Zin said the target was in line with the industry's growth rate estimation.

He said the company, which is in talks with potential investors, has a 21 per cent global market share worth about RM500 million in display driver integrated circuits and its total business caters for the foreign market.

Kamarulzaman said the production of the PowerMOS at MIMOS' state-of-the-art wafer fab facility, would enable Silterra to increase its production capacity to serve the growing global market.

"The company will provide technical support for a successful technology transfer of the Power Management IC Platform to MIMOS to manufacture PowerMOS wafers this year.

"It will reduce our production dependency on foreign countries such as Japan and China," he told reporters after a collaborative product launch on power management technology for the tie-up.

Khazanah Nasional which holds a 98 per cent stake in Silterra was reported to be in talks with potential strategic investors to help prop up the company which had been recording losses until about three years ago.

"What we are doing now is to make full use of what we have and the trick is to have the ability to hunt (innovate)," Kamarulzaman said.

Meanwhile, International Trade and Industry Deputy Minister Datuk Mukhriz Mahathir who officiated the event said from the industry's standpoint, the tie-up fits very neatly with the country's aspiration.

On the collaboration, he said globally, the Total Available Market (TAM) for Power Metal Oxide Semiconductor Field-Effect Transistor is estimated at US$5 billion with a compound annual growth rate of 7 per cent.

"The TAM for China alone is expected to grow from US$2.5 billion to US$3.5 billion between 2012 and 2015. "It is envisaged that the Silterra-MIMOS collaboration will create the right kind of synergy to capture a slice of this lucrative China market," he added. -- Bernama