Shellcase Ltd., a developer of Wafer Level Chip Size Packaging (WLSCP), has received a strategic investment of $1 million from SANYO Semiconductor, a subsidiary of SANYO Semiconductor Company of Japan. This investment is a second closing of the Series B funding, in which $20 million was raised in April 2001.
SANYO first entered into cooperation with Shellcase in late 2000, which led to the announcement of the world's first CCD miniature camera module designed for the cellular market, which incorporates Shellcase's WLCSP in February 2001. Mass production began in May 2001 and since then, several million camera chips have already manufactured.
"SANYO is very happy to have the opportunity to invest in Shellcase. Our good cooperation has enabled us to offer our customers the smallest CCD module available and this module meets the aggressive demands of image quality, module quality, and size that they require. This investment creates an even stronger relationship between the two companies," according to Akifumi Goto, President and CEO of SANYO Semiconductor in the U.S. "I am certain that our collaborative work and development will be accelerated by maximally utilizing the technologies of both companies."
"SANYO is one of Shellcase's major clients and this investment further demonstrates SANYO's confidence in our technology," according to Shlomo Oren, President and Chief Executive Officer, Shellcase. "We are pleased to partner with a world-leading company in the digital camera module market. The combination of our technology and SANYO's imager quality is a perfect match for the future market needs, mainly the handheld and next generation cellular phone markets."
SANYO and Shellcase plan to continue to strengthen their cooperation by expanding the line of products offered in the ShellOP WLCSP.
Shellcase is a supplier of innovative wafer level chip size packaging solutions for semiconductor devices for the growing digital imaging, data telecommunications and PDA markets. Shellcase has developed a proprietary, patented chip-size packaging technology using a wafer-level process. The company provides contract packaging services and also licenses its advances CSP technology, ShellBGA and ShellOP, to IC manufacturers worldwide. Contract packaging services are provided at the manufacturing facility in Jerusalem and through a joint venture in Taiwan. Shellcase is publicly traded on the Canadian Venture Exchange under the symbol SSD. The company was founded in 1993 and has its headquarters in Jerusalem, Israel, and has offices in Silicon Valley.
SANYO Semiconductor Company is one of the five principal companies of SANYO Electric Co., Ltd. SANYO provides semiconductor devices, flat panel displays and system solutions for leading applications in the electronics industry such as mobile communication equipment, PC/PC related products and analog/digital AV equipment. SANYO Semiconductor Company has three wafer fabs and five assembly fabs in Japan with an additional six assembly fabs in the Asia-Pacific region. Sales bases of the Company are located in North America, Europe, Asia and Japan. In the fiscal year 2000 (ended March 2001) SANYO Semiconductor generated sales of 407 billion yen with approximately 15,000 employees including subsidiaries.