Chairman
Yoichi Yano
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Semiconductor Technology Academic Research Center (STARC), aiming at further strengthening the semiconductor design technology, was founded in December 1995 with investment from leading Japanese semiconductor companies. Initially, STARC was involved mainly in two programs of "joint research with universities" and "training of semiconductor design engineers" to strengthen the R&D foundation of semiconductor.
"ASUKA Project" started at 2001, and STARC has been working on the additional program of "development of design foundation technology" with its shareholding companies to resolve the difficulties in designing due to miniaturization of semiconductors. Since 2010, we added the program of "support with prototype fabrication to academia and industry", in order to support development for the realization of innovative circuit architectures. Continuously STARC will strengthen the activities of the semiconductor-related research foundation.
On the other hand, the semiconductor industry is facing remarkable changes as the world economy is rapidly changing, and the needs of research and development for better competitiveness are becoming diversified. In such a situation since 2011, STARC has started several programs that consist of three major purposes. The 1st is for Market Expansion (Cooperation with Application Industry). The 2nd is for Design Value Improvement (Low Power Technology: architecture, circuit elements, and Functional Optimization). The 3rd is for Productivity Improvement (Design Technology and Software Development Technology). The areas and scopes of these activities are the development of design related (including software) technologies, actual design for practical use, IP (Intellectual Property) design, software development and the development of new applications. Cooperation with application industry is a new trial so, STARC will also cooperate with semiconductor users to expand the field of application of semiconductor products. In addition, we will expand the freedom for easy participation of non-shareholding companies. Through these actions, we exert our efforts to enhance the competitiveness of member companies and to contribute to the expansion and growth of the semiconductor industry. We would like to ask for your guidance and support in the years to come.
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President & CEO
Masao Nakaya, Dr. Eng.
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