(Kuala Lumpur, 8 March 2022)

Key ASIC Berhad announced today that it has signed a strategic framework partnership agreement forming a joint venture company to develop Digital Economy Park in Shaoxing City, Zhejiang Province, China. The agreement is signed between Key ASIC Berhad, Shaoxing Government, Cheerplan (China) Investments Co. Ltd., and Jiaoyang Integrated Circuit Manufacturing Co. Ltd. that owns BW38IC Manufacturing Co., Ltd.

Shaoxing is a city with over 5 million population and it is a city within the rich province of Zhejiang in China with a GDP of RMB450 billions.

In addition to the existing technology companies in the Park, the JV company is to elevate the development of the Park to be the next generation of Silicon Valley based on semiconductor material manufacturing, test and packaging for chips, semiconductor foundries, fabless chip design companies, and industrial application specific hardware and software companies with the objective to develop complete value chains for specific applications in target industries. The industries to be digitalized in this Park are automotive, healthcare, renewable energy and communication based on silicon photonics.

The Park will reside in approximately 5,000 acres of land with the target to land two 12- inch 28nm fabs, one 8-inch fab, one semiconductor test and packaging service company, industrial application software companies including EDA, research and certification labs, at least 100 fabless chip design companies and related technology system manufacturers.

The Park will take primary focus in developing the entire value chains for automotive, healthcare and renewable energy sectors ranging from design and production of chips, modules and systems. Currently there are two semiconductor fabs and some chip design companies in Shaoxing.

A chip design accelerator for fabless chip design companies will be the key differentiator of the Park where licensed and proven SoC IP platform and design services, EDA software and lab equipment will be made available to the fabless design companies. This will help the chip design companies to reduce the capital needed by more than 50%, and shorten the time to market by at least 30%. The accelerator will also be supporting and managing the production of the chips for the fabless chip design companies.

The JV company’s primary focus is to develop and manage the Park by attracting the targeted companies to set up in the Park. Key ASIC will also involve in the development of offices for the technology companies, residential housing for foreign talents and the local professionals, hotels, shopping malls, shops, international school and hospital, to develop a conducive international community.

The Secretary General of Shaoxing Mr. Sheng Yue Chun expressed that the collaboration is a remarkable accomplishment of Shaoxing and the cross boundaries collaboration is also a commendable achievement. He expressed that they will put in full effort in supporting the project to move forward effectively and efficiently, in order to move Zhejiang province to be the worldwide advanced manufacturing base and at the same time contribute positively to China’s industrial development.

“We are profoundly astonished to see the speed of digital economy development that Shaoxing has achieved and we are pleased that Key ASIC’s IPs and SoC platforms will be able to contribute significantly to the chip design accelerator and the development of the Park,” said Mr. Eg Kah Yee, Chairman and CEO of Key ASIC. “We are in the process of finalizing the detail of the accelerator including the licensing of the SoC IP and the Governmental support to be provided through the accelerator,” he added.

Notes:

Cheerplan (China) Investments Co. Ltd., is the significant shareholder of Hong Kong public listed company, Minth Group

Jiaoyang Integrated Circuit Manufacturing Co. Ltd. that is the significant shareholder of BW38IC Manufacturing Co., Ltd.

(Kuala Lumpur, 30, November 2021)

Key ASIC Berhad announced today that it has issued a Letter of Intent (LOI) to a US foundry to acquire up to 100% of its shares and the said company has accepted the LOI. The foundry is a fab with Silicon Carbide (SiC) and developing Gallium Nitrite (GaN) technologies. The Company has performed the preliminary analysis and due diligence leading to the signing of the LOI and will be conducting the necessary due diligence before signing of the definitive agreement.

Silicon Carbide or SiC technologies are used largely in power devices that are needed in the Electronic Vehicles, charging stations, power grid, renewable energy, data centers and other applications.

Silicon has a breakdown voltage of around 600V, while silicon carbide can withstand voltages 5-10 times higher. Silicon carbide can switch at a rate that is nearly ten times faster than silicon, which results in smaller integrated circuit hence smaller chips.

Not only that the foundry has leading edge technologies in Silicon Carbide, additionally the foundry has also been developing Gallium Nitrite (GaN) technologies. Built-in GaN technology wall chargers are generally more reliable and lightweight than traditional devices. This is because they tend to have safety features built-in. It is also charging the connected devices at a much faster rate along with performance improvements over traditional chargers.

The global chip shortage is expected to continue in the next few years due to the surge in demand of smart phones, tablets, notebooks, and networking products triggered by the pandemic and the rapid growth of the Electronic Vehicles. As shown in the market research, the Battery Electric Vehicles has been growing 64% to 74% has been recorded since 2016.

Silicon Carbide market size worth is forecasted to be USD7.1B by 2027 at CAGR of 16% reported by Market Research Future.

Today, a conventional car would use about 300 chips and an electronic car would require as many as 3,000 chips including many power devices.

“The strategic move to acquire the compound semiconductor technology fab is timely for the Company to expand into the fast-growing Electronic Vehicles and fast charging market,” said Mr. Eg Kah Yee, Chairman and CEO of Key ASIC. “We intend to build additional capacity by expanding the existing facilities at the fab and also new facilities in Asia to serve the Asia fastest growing market in Electronic Vehicles,” he added.

The fab is currently making chips for the automotive module manufacturers, car makers and power grid equipment producers in the US. The fab is expected to play a significant role in the trillion-dollar infrastructure bill that has been passed in the US Congress recently.

The LOI is expected to lead to the signing of the definitive agreement as the next step in this corporate exercise.

About the Key ASIC:

About the Key ASIC:Key ASIC, a public listed company on Bursa Malaysia (0143) specializes in developing IPs and provide ASIC/SoC design services for fabless design companies and system companies. The IPs are also developed specific for foundries to enable access of technologies by the fabless design companies. The Company has been producing IoT SoC as well as AI neural network chips for digital transformation of various industries.