OSAKA -- Sanyo Electric Co. and IBM Corp. have signed an agreement to cooperate in developing semiconductor technology for digital information consumer products, the two firms announced here Monday.
"As the personal computer market is declining, the market for digital consumer and network appliances is growing," said Sadao Kondo, president of Sanyo Electric, based in Moriguchi, Osaka Prefecture. "System semiconductor technology is the key in the innovation," he said.
"Our collaboration will cover a wide range of areas, including design and manufacturing of chips for digital electronics, and sales of jointly developed products," he told a press conference here.
According to the five-year agreement, Sanyo Electric will have access to IBM's advanced semiconductor technology, including 0.18-micron process and finer processes.
The two companies will conduct research in 10 categories of digital consumer applications, including digital still cameras, mobile phones and personal digital assistant products, they said. The new products will be put on the market in the next one or two years, they said.