​​The Intellectual Property Office (IPO) of Taiwan’s Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA) today announced that Macronix International Co., Ltd. has been elected as the winner of the Contribution Award of the 2011 National Invention and Creation Award. This is a further recognition of Macronix’s outstanding achievements for its long-term commitment to developing home-grown technologies and products. Over the years Macronix has filed over 6,600 patents and granted for more than 4,300 globally, with 65% of them being international patents. Since 2002, the company has been among the top 300 organizations granted US patents for eight consecutive years and has stayed as one of the leaders among semiconductor players in Taiwan.

Of its corporate values, Macronix gives the utmost priority to "innovation," and patents are the most important intellectual property protection for innovations. In recent years, Macronix’s R&D expenses have been kept at the averaged of 10-12% of annual revenue. Even in difficult times during the global downturn or financial crisis, the company has never reduced its investment in creating and protecting IP. Macronix was the first among Taiwan-based semiconductor firms to found its own laboratory for innovative R&D. The company opened its Emerging Central Lab in March 2001 and a year later the lab was the first in Taiwan to officially receive MOEA approval to become an R&D center. In 2003, Macronix expanded it and renamed as the Innovation R&D Center, which now has an R&D team of over 740 employees, making up 15.7% of the company’s total workforce. Macronix’s innovations have attracted high-tech industry leaders worldwide to set up technology alliances or engage in joint-development programs for advanced memory solutions and next-generation technologies.

Dr. C. Y. Lu, President of Macronix, remarked, "In recent years, Macronix, through its diverse and quality products, has continuously demonstrated the applicability and high value of its key technological patents, and elevated its competitiveness in the global market. It has become not only the world’s biggest manufacturer of read-only memory (ROM), but also the technological leader of Serial Flash. We have achieved outstanding business performance among the world’s memory companies. This award has reaffirmed our excellent achievements resulting from Macronix’s forward-looking patent deployment and emphasis on both quantity and quality.”

Apart from the fruitful patent applications, Macronix’s R&D capabilities can also be attested by the publication of technical papers. The technical papers that Macronix’s Innovation R&D Center has published over the years have been continuously selected by the IEDM, ISSCC, VLSI international academic symposiums, and have often been elected as their highlight papers. For example, the Macronix-developed BE-SONOS® patented technology with a 3D Vertical Gate architecture has become an important solution for shrinking the size of NAND Flash and enhancing its performance. The important breakthrough was selected as one of eight highlight papers at the 2010 VLSI Symposium, and has been twice adopted by ITRS – once for its “NAND Flash Technology Roadmap” and the other for its “3D NAND Flash Technology Roadmap” – as its development guidelines. Macronix’s R&D achievements have repeatedly won international acclaims and the company has therefore been invited by various international technology organizations to serve as their core members and review committee members. Macronix has also been invited to deliver keynote speeches at a total of 19 important international technology seminars over the past three years, a demonstration of its leadership in the global semiconductor industry.

In order to encourage its employees to keep innovating, Macronix also has multiple ways, such as innovation contests, citation ceremonies, incentive programs, project proposal systems and professional lectures, to spur innovative ideas and practices. Macronix has also been promoting its innovative ideas to society. The company has been organizing the "Macronix Golden Silicon Awards" and "Macronix Science Awards" contests since 2000 to inspire Taiwan’s students to explore the spirit of science and the potential for innovation. Over the past 11 years, more than 820 schools, and 15,000 teachers and students have participated, and scholarships of over NT$73 million have been awarded in the annual contests, which have been serving as an encouragement for them to apply their R&D work to society, and aiming to constantly introduce new blood into the internationalization of Taiwan’s innovation and creativity to elevate its technological competitiveness.



Media Contact:
Michelle Chang
Department Manager
Corporate Communication Office
TEL: +886-3-578-6688 ext 71233
Mobile: +886-933310870
Email: michellechang@mxic.com.tw