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CEVA
LAUNCHES FOUNDRY PROGRAM WITH UMC
Cost-Effective
Licensing Option for Market's #1 DSPs Cores for Wireless Handsets;
Speeds Time to Market for Fabless Semiconductor Companies
San Jose, CA - January 5, 2004
CEVA, Inc., (NASDAQ: CVA; LSE: CVA), the industry's leading licensor
of Digital Signal Processor (DSP) cores and solutions to the semiconductor
industry, today announced the establishment of a foundry program
with UMC (NYSE: UMC), a leading global semiconductor foundry. The
program will enable fabless semiconductor companies in emerging
markets to quickly and cost-effectively deliver products that feature
CEVA-Teak and CEVA-TeakLite DSP cores for applications ranging from
wireless handsets to digital multimedia products.
The agreement will allow fabless companies to
license the CEVA-Teak and CEVA-TeakLite, the number one licensed
DSPs, and manufacture system-on-chip (SoC) solutions at UMC. UMC
will port the CEVA DSPs to its processes, thereby reducing development
costs and accelerating time to market for their fabless semiconductor
customers incorporating IP cores into their designs.
UMC's participation in the foundry program reflects
the rapid growth in the DSP market. Electronics market research
firm Forward Concepts forecasts 20 percent annual DSP growth by
the end of 2003 and 25 percent in 2004. Most of the growth is coming
from the Far East, positioning UMC to capture significant new business
from its large base of Asian customers through the CEVA alliance.
"With the rising demand for DSP core solutions,
we are pleased to partner with CEVA to offer their innovative DSP
solutions to our foundry customers,"said Patrick Lin, Chief
SOC Architect at UMC."This relationship will allow us to expand
our IP offerings in this important market with proven technology
from a company with more than a decade of experience in DSP intellectual
property solutions."
"This foundry program will broaden our market
by enabling us to forge relationships with fabless companies that
are looking for fast time-to-market on a proven process," said
Derek Meyer, Vice President of Business Development for CEVA. "Teaming
with a leading semiconductor foundry like UMC to make our CEVA-Teak
and CEVA-TeakLite DSPs available under a foundry license promises
to broaden our penetration in cellular markets, and expand in the
emerging arena of digital multimedia applications."
Note Concerning Forward-Looking Statements
Some of the statements in the foregoing announcement are forward
looking within the meaning of the U.S. Federal Securities laws,
including statements about future outsourcing, wafer capacity, technologies,
business relationships and market conditions. Investors are cautioned
that actual events and results could differ materially from these
statements as a result of a variety of factors, including conditions
in the overall semiconductor market and economy; acceptance and
demand for products; and technological and development risks.
About CEVA, Inc.
Headquartered in San Jose, CEVA (NASDAQ: CEVA and LSE: CVA) is the
leading licensor of DSP cores and integrated applications to the
semiconductor industry. CEVA markets a portfolio of DSP IP in three
integrated areas: CEVA DSPs, CEVA-Xpert Open Framework Environment,
and CEVA-Xpert Applications, all supported by CEVA Xpert-Integration
services. CEVA's products are used in over 60 million devices each
year. The company was formerly known as ParthusCeva, Inc. For more
information, visit www.ceva-dsp.com.
Contacts:
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UMC
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Ceva, Inc. |
In the USA:
KJ Communications
Eileen Elam
(650) 917-1488
eileen@kjcompr.com
In Taiwan:
UMC
Alex Hinnawi
(886) 2-2700-6999 ext.6958
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Barry Nolan
(408) 514-2900
(353) 402-5700
Bat-Sheva Ovadia
(972) 9-952-9616
Batsheva.ovadia@parthusceva.com
Media / S&S Public Relations
Heather Kelly
(719) 634-8274
heather@sspr.com
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