SSTI--SST and Samsung Expand Technology Licensing and Foundry Agreement
Expanded Agreement for 0.18 Micron and 0.13 Micron Strengthens SST's Foothold in High-Density Flash Memory Market
SUNNYVALE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 16, 2001-- SST (Silicon Storage Technology, Inc.) (Nasdaq:SSTI - news), a leader in flash memory technology, and Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd., today announced that the two companies have expanded their existing licensing and strategic manufacturing partnership to now include additional deep sub-micron technology. The expanded agreement facilitates SST's move from current 0.33 micron to smaller process geometries, including 0.25 micron, 0.18 micron and 0.13 micron, at Samsung. The increase in die yields gained from scaling down to advanced sub-micron geometries will allow SST to utilize its self-aligned SuperFlash® cell in the production of higher-density flash memory products for both mass data storage and program code storage applications. Utilizing Samsung's advanced deep sub-micron process technology and mass production capability, SST's SuperFlash technology achieves an additional competitive edge in its high-density products. SST's SuperFlash technology is expected to boost Samsung's flash embedded business -- a prospective business field of Samsung's SOC (System on a Chip) operations. Samsung intends to embed SST's SuperFlash technology into its high-volume products, such as smart cards and embedded microcontrollers, that can now take advantage of SST's self-aligned SuperFlash cell, which was designed for finer process geometries.
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``Samsung and SST's technology roadmap goals are very synergistic, and we are thrilled to be expanding our partnership with a strong leader in the semiconductor industry,'' said Bing Yeh, president and CEO of SST. ``In addition, our partnership with Samsung will ensure our ability to scale our process to finer geometries, broadly offer SuperFlash as a technology-of-choice for nonvolatile memory solutions and to produce high-quality, cost-efficient flash memory products.''
Mr. Yeh also stated that after being challenged by a capacity shortage during most of 2000, SST's goal is to take advantage of the current industry slowdown to secure ample foundry capacity with deep sub-micron geometries for SST's next round of growth. Securing additional capacity now lays the foundation for SST's strategic goal of being able to grow into the higher density flash memory market and expand its market share.
``Combining Samsung's advanced process technology with SST's SuperFlash technology will allow the creation of truly advanced, high-performance and competitive products with fast time-to-market,'' said Dr. Hyung-Kyu Lim, president of Samsung Electronics' System LSI business. ``SST has been an ideal foundry customer and we are committed to continuously working closely with SST on future generations of flash memory. SST has maintained a high level of foundry business with Samsung over the past two and a half years and with the company's migration to advanced process geometries, we anticipate an even more productive and mutually beneficial relationship.''
About SuperFlash Technology
SST's SuperFlash technology is a NOR type, split-gate cell architecture which uses a reliable thick-oxide process with fewer manufacturing steps resulting in a low-cost, nonvolatile memory solution with excellent data retention and higher reliability. The split-gate NOR SuperFlash architecture facilitates a simple and flexible design suitable for high performance, high reliability, small or medium sector size, in- or off-system programming and a variety of densities, all in a single CMOS-compatible technology.
About Silicon Storage Technology, Inc.
Headquartered in Sunnyvale, California, SST designs, manufactures and markets a diversified range of nonvolatile memory solutions, based on proprietary, patented SuperFlash technology, for high volume applications in the digital consumer, networking, wireless communications and Internet computing markets. SST's product families include high functionality flash memory components, flash mass storage products and 8-bit microcontrollers with on-chip flash memory. SST also offers its SuperFlash technology for embedded applications through its world-class manufacturing partners and technology licensees IBM, Motorola, National Semiconductor, Oki Electric Industry Co., Ltd., Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd., SANYO Electric Co., Ltd., Seiko Epson Corp. and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. Ltd. (TSMC). TSMC offers SuperFlash under its trademark Emb-FLASH. Further information on SST can be found on the company's Web site at ssti.com.
About Samsung Electronics
Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd., with 2000 sales revenue of US$27 billion, is a world leader in the electronics industry. The Korea-based concern has operations in about 50 countries with 70,000 employees worldwide. The company consists of three main business units: Digital Media, Semiconductor and Information & Communications Businesses. For more information, please visit the Samsung website, samsungelectronics.com.
Forward-Looking Statements
Except for the historical information contained herein, this news release contains forward-looking statements regarding flash memory market conditions, the company's future financial performance, the performance of new products and the company's ability to bring new products to market that involve risks and uncertainties. These risks may include timely development, acceptance and pricing of new products, the terms and conditions associated with licensees' royalty payments, the impact of competitive products and pricing, and general economic conditions as they affect the company's customers, as well as other risks detailed from time to time in the company's SEC reports, including the report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2000.
For more information about SST and the company's comprehensive list of product offerings, please call 1-888/SST-CHIP. Information can also be requested via email to sfoster@ssti.com or through SST's website at ssti.com. SST is located at 1171 Sonora Court, Sunnyvale, Calif.; telephone: 408/735-9110; fax: 408/735-9036.
Note to Editors: The SST logo and SuperFlash are registered trademarks of Silicon Storage Technology, Inc. Emb-FLASH is a trademark of TSMC. All other trademarks or registered trademarks are the property of their respective holders. |
