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PARTHUS AND UMC ANNOUNCE
FOUNDRY PROGRAM FOR ADVANCED BLUETOOTH RADIO SOLUTIONS
THAT POWER NEXT GENERATION MOBILE INTERNET DEVICES
Agreement
allows Parthus' customers to license Bluetooth Intellectual
Property solutions on UMC's industry-leading 0.18 CMOS
process
San Jose, Calif. and Dublin, Ireland
– December 13, 2000 —
Parthus Technologies PLC (Nasdaq: PRTH; LSE: PRH),
a leading developer of semiconductor intellectual property
for the mobile Internet market, and UMC (NYSE: UMC),
a world leading semiconductor foundry, today announced
an agreement that enables Parthus' customers to license
its Bluetooth radio on UMC's CMOS process to power next
generation mobile Internet devices.
Parthus has developed its innovative Bluetooth radio
transceiver on UMC's 0.18 micron CMOS process. This
allows Parthus and UMC's customers to have more ready
access to the tools required for the development of
mobile Internet chips. Combined with Parthus' baseband
IP integrated on a system chip, this also enables the
industry's first range of second-generation single chip
Bluetooth solutions.
The partnership allows a range of customers, including
integrated circuit (IC) companies and OEM manufactures,
to license Bluetooth technology "off the shelf" from
Parthus. By having this proven technology readily available
from Parthus on UMC's CMOS process, OEM manufacturers
and IC companies can realize significantly reduced time
to market cycles and cost-efficiencies.
" The essence of Bluetooth is wireless connectivity
across a range of electronic devices in a low-cost,
high-performance package," said Kevin Fielding, chief
operating officer of Parthus. "By making our technology
available on UMC's CMOS process, we can accelerate the
timetable for the mass deployment of Bluetooth technology.
CMOS is the workhorse of the microprocessor industry
because it delivers a low power, low cost solution.
Furthermore, as a UMC ASICplus™ member, customers
can leverage the benefits of the program with this latest
offering to develop a total Bluetooth solution."
"The Bluetooth market is seeing tremendous growth as
consumers embrace the many benefits this technology
has to offer,ˇ¨ said Jim Ballingall, vice president
of worldwide marketing for UMC. We have been working
with leading Bluetooth OEMs and IP creators such as
Parthus to develop RF CMOS technologies that will make
Bluetooth chips more cost-effective than the Bluetooth
samples and prototypes that currently utilize BiCMOS
technology. Parthusˇ¦ RF on CMOS solution makes an excellent
addition to UMCˇ¦s portfolio of resources that enables
our customers to develop Bluetooth designs at a lower
cost and within shorter market windows."
About RF on CMOS
The radio is a critical component of any
wireless system, providing the antenna to the DSP link.
It plays a key role in establishing the core wireless
system parameters, such as bandwidth and operating range.
The need for a minimum-cost, low-power consumption radio
that meets the Bluetooth specification is critical to
the adoption of Bluetooth in mass-market products, such
as cell phones and PDAs.
CMOS is the most widely used process technology in
the industry because of its ability to deliver an extremely
cost effective solution, with minimum compromising of
performance or power consumption. Parthus' Bluetooth
radio on CMOS development is focused primarily on Bluetooth
and GPS applications, as these lend themselves to low-cost,
CMOS implementation.
In-depth device characterization and RF test circuit
evaluation have allowed Parthus to leverage the ultimate
in low-cost IC technology to deliver highly integrated
radio solutions operating at 2.4GHz.
About ASICplus
UMC's ASICplus program is its response to the increase
in demand from its customers for ASIC services. The
first program of its type in the industry, UMC has teamed
up with leading fabless ASIC companies to provide full
ASIC services to system houses and fabless ASIC companies
to provide full ASIC services to system houses and fabless
semiconductor companies. The program gives customers
the same advantages previously enjoyed by only large
COT companies. ASICplus offers a value-added, lower
cost alternative for the development of today's leading-edge
ICs, focusing on front-end design solutions and backend
assembly and test services.
About Parthus Technologies
Parthus Technologies is one of the world's
leading providers of complete platform level intellectual
property (IP) solutions targeting the mobile Internet
market. Incorporating radio, baseband and software design
solutions, Parthus' unrivalled range of mobile Internet
platforms are used by the world's largest microprocessor
companies and electronics manufacturers in MP3, GPS,
GPRS, GSM, 3G and Bluetooth applications. Parthus' broad
range of platforms powers a diverse range of mobile
Internet devices, such as cellular handsets, Smartphones,
automobiles, personal audio players and PDAs. The company
leverages seven years of IP development experience to
deploy platforms that lead the industry in terms of
ultra-high processing power and low power consumption,
and deliver significant cost and time-to-market advantages
to its customers. Parthus is headquartered in Dublin
with offices in six countries and is listed on the London
Stock Exchange (LSE:PRH) and NASDAQ (Nasdaq:PRTH). More
information on Parthus is available at http://www.parthus.com.
ASICplus is a trademark of UMC. All other trademarks
or registered trademarks are the property of their respective
owners.
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