Marvell founders launch $2-B chips foundry in Singapore

Silicon Box’s chiplets are displayed during the opening of their advanced semiconductor manufacturing foundry in Singapore July 20, 2023. REUTERS/Edgar Su

Singapore-based Silicon Box opened a $2-billion advanced semiconductor manufacturing foundry in the city-state on Thursday, as it seeks to broaden adoption of “chiplet” technology

The two-year old startup said in a statement that the 73,000-square metre factory would create over 1,000 jobs with support from Singapore’s Economic Development board.

Silicon Box was created by the founders of U.S chipmaker Marvell, Sehat Sutardja and wife Weili Dai, along with current CEO BJ Han.

Silicon Box focuses on “chiplets”, or small chips, which can be the size of a grain of sand and are brought together in a process called advanced packaging, a cost-efficient way to bind small semiconductors to form one processor n that can power everything from data centres to household appliances.

The global chip industry has increasingly embraced the technology in recent years as chip manufacturing costs soar in the race to make transistors small enough to be measured in the number of atoms.

CEO Han told Reuters that “customers had been lining up” even before the factory’s launch, with artificial intelligence firms driving demand. He said Silicon Box was in talks to supply Canadian AI startup company Tenstorrent.