Weebit Nano ReRAM now commercially available; fab & customer agreements progressing

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Apr. 27, 2023 – 

Well-funded to accelerate development & commercialisation activities Q3 FY23 Quarterly Activities Report

April 26, 2023 – Weebit Nano Ltd (ASX: WBT, Weebit or Company) is pleased to provide this activity report for the quarter ended 31 March 2023 (Q3 FY23), along with the Company’s Appendix 4C cash flow report.

Commenting on Q3 FY23, Weebit CEO Coby Hanoch said: “It has been a productive quarter for Weebit Nano with significant progress delivered on all fronts. We enter Q4 on the cusp of commercialisation with our first ReRAM module now commercially available, qualification with SkyWater Technology on track for mid-year, a strong balance sheet, and discussions underway with the majority of the world’s leading foundries and integrated device manufacturers (IDMs).

“Our engagement with these leading foundries, IDMs and product companies reflects Weebit’s cutting-edge ReRAM at a time when there is significant demand for a high-performing, cost-effective non-volatile memory (NVM) technology to replace flash and other alternatives in more advanced applications and process nodes. Our proven embedded ReRAM is more energy efficient, and better performing than both flash and other emerging NVM technologies, and we have recently demonstrated its suitability for high-radiation environments.

“Weebit is the leading independent ReRAM provider in the market, and we are well-positioned to secure licensing agreements with several Tier-1 foundries/IDMs. Discussions and evaluations with most of the leading foundries and IDMs are progressing well, and we are working hard to sign our first agreement with these companies.

“Weebit’s largest ever capital raise has further strengthened our balance sheet, and will enable us to accelerate the transfer and qualification of our embedded ReRAM to new Tier-1 foundries and IDMs who will manufacture products with it embedded. It enables us to capitalise on our competitive advantages to address growing customer demand for faster, more efficient NVM. At the same time, we’re working to scale our ReRAM below 22nm for advanced applications.

“We also continue to invest in longer-term opportunities, including additional development of a solution for the discrete memory market. We are hearing from potential customers that our current technology, using a transistor rather than a selector, is already competitive with some discrete solutions available today. This provides us with the ability to have our own products while we continue the longer-term development and commercialisation of the selector technology, which will open up a large market opportunity and further diversify our revenue streams.

“Finally, I’m incredibly proud of Weebit’s addition to the S&P/ASX 300 and MSCI Australia Indices, which are introducing new investors to the company and giving Australian investors the ability to be directly involved in the global semiconductor industry. The sector is expanding exponentially at present as the US, Europe, South Korea, India, Taiwan and Japan all look to reduce their sovereign risk and produce more of their semiconductor infrastructure locally.”

Weebit ReRAM IP now available in SkyWater’s S130 process

Weebit’s first ReRAM technology became available in commercial partner SkyWater Technology’s 130nm CMOS (S130) process in March. SkyWater customers can now easily integrate Weebit ReRAM IP in system-on-chip (SoC) designs for mixed-signal, IoT, automotive, industrial, medical, and aerospace applications.

Weebit’s proven NVM has significant advantages over existing flash technology, enabling semiconductor designs to be faster, lower cost, more energy efficient and more reliable, even in high-temperature or high radiation environments. Demo chips produced at SkyWater are currently being qualified, which is on track to be completed in the first half of CY23.

Weebit publicly demonstrated these SkyWater demo chips for the first time at Embedded World 2023 in March, showcasing the performance and power savings of its technology compared to flash memory. The demo chips generated significant interest and awareness with potential customers and partners throughout the industry. The same demo chips are now available for customers to prototype their designs ahead of mass production.

Taped-out 22nm demo chip to Global Foundries

During the quarter, Weebit taped-out the first demo chips integrating its embedded ReRAM module to Global Foundries’ 22nm fully depleted silicon on insulator (FD-SOI) process, also known as 22FDX™. This manufacturing process is one of the industry’s most common process nodes, known for its fine balance between power consumption, performance and cost, and is broadly used for IoT, automotive, AI, MCU and mixed-signal designs. These applications require new embedded NVM technologies as existing embedded flash is not available at this process node.

GlobalFoundries’ Chief Business Officer Mike Hogan said, “The work Weebit and CEA-Leti are doing to make Weebit ReRAM available on GlobalFoundries’ 22FDX is a welcome development as we continue to expand the ecosystem around this platform. Embedded NVM is a key element of our customers’ designs, but since embedded flash is difficult to scale below 28nm, many customers are looking to NVM solutions such as embedded ReRAM.”

Negotiations with Tier-1 foundries, customers

Weebit is in various stages of discussion and technical evaluation with most of the world’s leading foundries and IDMs. Evaluations are highly complex with these companies having many technical requirements. Overall, the negotiations are progressing well and Weebit is working hard towards securing a licensing agreement with a Tier- 1 foundry/IDM.

Raised approx. A$60m via strongly supported Placement and SPP

Weebit secured approximately A$60 million in challenging market conditions to accelerate the commercial rollout of its embedded ReRAM and fund additional technology development. The raise comprised approx. A$45 million from an institutional Placement at A$5 per new share and an upsized and strongly supported A$15 million Share Purchase Plan (SPP) on the same terms. The Placement was supported by new and existing high-quality Australian and international institutional and sophisticated investors.

Radiation impact study

During the quarter, Weebit confirmed its ReRAM arrays are tolerant to high radiation levels as part of a study with the University of Florida’s Nino Research Group (NRG) and CEA-Leti. The study showed Weebit ReRAM maintained data integrity and memory functionality after being subjected to doses of gamma irradiation exceeding the most demanding requirements, making it suitable for aerospace and medical applications in highradiation environments.

Established in 2003, the NRG is focused on the development of advanced functional materials for sustainable energy solutions. Weebit, NRG and Leti are now measuring the performance of Weebit ReRAM module under a mixed radiation environment in real time at the University of Florida Training Reactor (UFTR).

S&P/ASX 300 Index inclusion

Weebit was added to the S&P/ASX 300 Index in March, reflecting the company’s increased market capitalisation. The milestone followed Weebit’s inclusion to the MSCI Australia Index, which measures the performance of large and mid-cap segments of the Australian market.

Market engagement

During the quarter, Weebit also met with potential customers and partners at the industry’s leading conference - Embedded World in Germany. This event plays an important role in updating the market on Weebit’s progress and informing potential customers about the availability of its first ReRAM product through SkyWater.

Upcoming events include:

• 9 May 2023: ChipEx, Israel – the leading semiconductor conference in Israel
• 21 May 2023: International Memory Workshop (IMW), California – the leading R&D conference for memory developers and users
• 7 June 2023: Leti Innovation Days, France – the annual gathering of Leti’s partners and potential customers looking to embed advanced technologies in products
• 10 July 2023: Design Automation Conference (DAC), California – the industry’s go-to event for design engineers and engineering management

For more info visit www.weebit-nano.com/events

Financials

Notable operating cash flow items during Q3 FY23 included R&D expenses of A$6.9 million, comprising a A$6 million payment to Leti after achieving key milestones. Payments to related parties were A$258,000, inclusive of fees paid to Directors and the CEO’s cost of payroll. At the end of Q3 FY23, Weebit had a strong cash balance of A$79 million (excluding A$15 million in SPP proceeds which were finalised during April 2023).

Looking forward

Weebit Nano is on track to achieve the following milestones over the coming months:

• Complete technology qualification with SkyWater;
• Complete technology qualification at 125C for automotive applications;
• Sign new agreements with partners and customers, including a Tier-1 foundry/IDM; and
• Commence scaling embedded ReRAM technology below 22nm.

Investor briefing details

CEO Coby Hanoch will participate in a “Meet the CEO” interview covering the Company’s quarterly update at 2pm AEST on Thursday, 27 April 2023. Participants will have an opportunity to ask questions at the end of the webinar.

To attend, please pre-register

About Weebit Nano Limited

Weebit Nano Ltd. is a leading developer of advanced semiconductor memory technology. The company’s ground-breaking Resistive RAM (ReRAM) addresses the growing need for significantly higher performance and lower power memory solutions in a range of new electronic products such as Internet of Things (IoT) devices, smartphones, robotics, autonomous vehicles, 5G communications and artificial intelligence.

Weebit’s ReRAM allows semiconductor memory elements to be significantly faster, less expensive, more reliable and more energy efficient than those using existing Flash memory solutions. As it is based on fab-friendly materials, Weebit ReRAM can be integrated within existing flows and processes faster and easier than other emerging technologies, without requiring special equipment or large investments.

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