KUALA LUMPUR (April 3): Internet of Things (IoT) chips and system designer and manufacturer Key ASIC Bhd has partnered with a China-based wafer fabrication foundry, Shanghai Huali Microelectronics Corporation (HLMC), to jointly develop, produce, test and market their solutions in Japan and China.

In a statement today, Key Asic said a joint marketing agreement was inked with HLMC to facilitate the said partnership, under which they will jointly develop a total solution offering ranging from IP development, application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) design services, wafer production, test development and packaging to fabless ASIC system on chip and system design companies.

Under the deal, Key ASIC will be an IP and ASIC design partner to HLMC, while HLMC becomes the foundry partner to Key ASIC.

The joint marketing activities include joint call to customers, joint technology forums, design consultation, customer referral and joint development of one-stop service solution from IP development, SoC design services and chip production.

"This partnership will enhance our marketing capability not only in Japan, but also in the China market. Our IP and design service capabilities will help to score more design wins in the advance process technologies space with HLMC. This will [allow] us to accelerate our penetration to both of these markets," said Key ASIC chief executive officer Eg Kah Yee.

"Their focus on high-voltage (HV), radio frequency (RF) and Ultra Low Power process technologies is ideal for our IoT strategy," Eg added.

Key Asic shares slid 0.5 sen to settle at 13.5 sen today, giving it a market capitalisation of RM114.94 million.