Atmel to Produce RFICs for QUALCOMM's Sixth Generation CDMA Chipset
SAN JOSE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--June 1, 2000--Atmel Corporation (Nasdaq:ATML - news) today announced that it has been selected by QUALCOMM Incorporated (Nasdaq:QCOM - news) to produce BiCMOS Radio Frequency Integrated Circuits (RFICs) for QUALCOMM's highly integrated sixth-generation CDMA chipsets. QUALCOMM is the pioneer and world leader in Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) digital wireless technology. Atmel began shipping production volumes of the ICs last quarter using a 0.5 micron BiCMOS process technology. This analog technology utilizes complex deep trench isolation that lowers the substrate capacitance to boost the speed of the NPN bipolar transistors to 20 GHz Ft. Similar BiCMOS technologies are limited to 14 GHz Ft or less. The higher frequency provides the increased performance required by demanding digital cellular standards like CDMA while reducing the operating current and thus power consumption. Atmel is one of only two IC vendors worldwide with the capability to process this technology in volume.
``As a world leader in developing CDMA chipsets and products, QUALCOMM places very stringent requirements on our silicon vendors,'' said Johan Lodenius, senior vice president of marketing and product management for QUALCOMM CDMA Technologies. ``Atmel engineers have an excellent understanding of RF issues and BiCMOS process technology, and Atmel has shown a willingness to go the extra mile to meet our requirements.''
Atmel's vice president and general manager of RF wireless products, Tony Giraudo, is pleased about the partnership. ``QUALCOMM is the world's largest fabless semiconductor company. In fact, today QUALCOMM produces the majority of the chipsets used in CDMA handsets, the fastest growing segment of the cell phone market. Being selected to manufacture these CDMA RFICs is a testament to Atmel's superior semiconductor manufacturing, technology, engineering expertise and customer service in the RF arena.''
``Our relationship with QUALCOMM further validates Atmel's success in expanding its product portfolio from nonvolatile memory to include the system level integration of complex RFICs for the rapidly expanding wireless market. As we enter the Wireless Decade, this partnership further strengthens Atmel's leadership position as a supplier of cost-effective, highly integrated radio frequency BiCMOS and SiGE BiCMOS solutions for portable wireless applications,'' Giraudo concluded.
About QUALCOMM
QUALCOMM CDMA Technologies (QCT), a division of QUALCOMM Incorporated, is the leading developer and supplier of CDMA chipsets, hardware and software solutions, and tools with more than 90 million Mobile Station Modem (MSM(TM)) chips shipped worldwide. QCT supplies chipsets to the world's leading CDMA handset and infrastructure manufacturers, including: Acer Peripherals, Inc., ALPS ELECTRIC CO., LTD.; CASIO COMPUTER CO., LTD.; DENSO CORPORATION; FUJITSU LIMITED; Hitachi, Ltd.; Hyundai Electronics Industries Co., Ltd.; KYOCERA CORPORATION; LG Information and Communications, Ltd.; Samsung Electronics Ltd.; SANYO Electric Co., Ltd.; and Toshiba Corporation, among others.
QUALCOMM Incorporated (www.qualcomm.com) is a leader in developing and delivering innovative digital wireless communications products and services based on the Company's CDMA digital technology. The Company's business areas include integrated CDMA chipsets and system software; technology licensing; Eudora© email software for Windows© and Macintosh© computing platforms; satellite-based systems including portions of the Globalstar(TM) system and wireless fleet management systems, OmniTRACS© and OmniExpress(TM). QUALCOMM owns patents which are essential to all of the CDMA wireless telecommunications standards that have been adopted or proposed for adoption by standards-setting bodies worldwide. QUALCOMM has licensed its essential CDMA patent portfolio to more than 75 telecommunications equipment manufacturers worldwide. Headquartered in San Diego, Calif., QUALCOMM is included in the S&P 500 Index and is a 2000 FORTUNE 500© company traded on The Nasdaq Stock Market© under the ticker symbol QCOM.
About Atmel Corporation
Founded in 1984, Atmel Corporation is headquartered in San Jose, California with manufacturing facilities in Colorado Springs, Colorado; Irving, Texas; Grenoble, Nantes and Rousset, France and Heilbronn, Germany. Atmel designs, manufactures and markets on a worldwide basis advanced logic, mixed-signal, non-volatile memory, and RF semiconductors. Atmel is also a leading provider of system level integration semiconductor solutions using advanced CMOS, BiCMOS, Bipolar and SiGe process technologies.
Atmel product and financial information may be obtained from its Fax-on-Demand service. In North America call 1-800-292-8635 or Internationally, call 1-408-441-0732. Requests may be made via e-mail to literature@atmel.com or by visiting Atmel's web site at www.atmel.com.
Note to Editors: Atmel, the Atmel logo and combinations thereof and others contained herein, are trademarks of Atmel Corporation. Terms and product names in this document may be the trademarks of others.
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Contact:
Atmel
Bob Henderson, 408/451-2855
bhenderson@atmel.com
Vicki McCann, 719/540-1724
vmccann@atmel.com
or
QUALCOMM
Anita Hix, 858/658-5879 (Public Relations)
ahix@qualcomm.com
Christine Trimble, 858/651-3628 (Public Relations)
ctrimble@qualcomm.com
Julie Cunningham, 858/658-4224 (Investor Relations)
jcunningham@qualcomm.com
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