Zentrum Mikroelektronik Dresden AG (ZMD AG) is a fabless (since March 2007) semiconductor manufacturer based in Dresden. In the 1980s, ZMD was regarded as the heart of the GDR-microelectronics research. ZMD was founded in 1961. In 1969 (the year AMD was founded) the company operated under the name Arbeitsstelle für Molekularelektronik Dresden. ZMD produced the GDR's first 1-megabyte DRAM U61000 in 1988. However, serial production was not achieved by 1990. ZMD GmbH (the predecessor of the current corporation) was founded in 1993 and in December 2001 the company became an "AG".
Since May 2009, ZMD AG uses the logo „ZMDI“, the company name still is “Zentrum Mikroelektronik Dresden”.
Today, the company has about 250 employees, of which around 100 are engineers working mainly in product development. ZMDI innovations are used in automotive and industrial electronics, medical technology and for infrared interfaces (IrDA), for example in mobile phones and laptops. The company has successfully specialised in the design, production and marketing of heavy duty, mixed analogue-digital, application-specific circuits (ASICs) and application specific standard products (ASSPs) with low energy consumption. As a result, ZMDI has accelerated the development of the most modern mixed-signal systems on chip (SoC). The main focus of these developments is applications for the automobile sector: ZMD has maintained a leading position in this area for several years, now and aims to be market leader for automotive sensor systems on chip for “x by wire" applications.
The company's headquarters are in Dresden, Germany. ZMDI runs sales operations in the U.S. with offices in Melville, New York, in Stuttgart and Dresden, Germany. It has Design Centres in the USA in Madison, Wisconsin and also in Dresden, Stuttgart and Varna, Bulgaria.
ZFOUNDRY, a 100% subsidiary company, manufactured ZMD AG’s products and was responsible for all necessary subcontract services, such as assembly and test. Its production capacity was also offered worldwide for analog, mixed-signal and power management.
ZFOUNDRY was sold to X-FAB Semiconductor Foundries AG in March 2007.
ZMDI is said to be the cradle of the Saxon microelectronics industry and is a founder of the largest European semiconductors cluster, “Silicon Saxony”, which was founded in 2000. ZMDI's CEO and President is Thilo von Selchow.