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Technology Stocks : Qualcomm Incorporated (QCOM) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Annette who wrote (55962)	12/22/1999 4:51:00 PM
From: RocketMan	Respond to of 152472

QUALCOMM and KYOCERA Sign Agreement for Terrestrial CDMA Phone Business SAN DIEGO, Dec. 22 /PRNewswire/ -- QUALCOMM Incorporated (Nasdaq: QCOM) and Kyocera Corporation (NYSE: KYO) today announced at 1:30 p.m. (PST) that they have reached a definitive agreement which will result in a newly formed unit of Kyocera acquiring QUALCOMM's terrestrial-based wireless Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) consumer phone business, including its phone inventory, manufacturing equipment and customer commitments. Under this agreement, Kyocera has agreed to purchase a majority of its CDMA chipsets and system software from QUALCOMM for a period of five years. Kyocera will continue its existing royalty-bearing CDMA license agreement with QUALCOMM. The transaction is expected to close by the end of February 2000. The financial terms of the agreement, which is subject to regulatory approval and other customary closing conditions, were not disclosed. "This agreement is intended to further increase the demand for CDMA, the world's fastest-growing wireless technology," said Dr. Irwin Mark Jacobs, chairman and CEO, QUALCOMM. "Kyocera, already a leading CDMA phone manufacturer in Asia, has committed to build upon the foundation of our phone business to provide state-of-the-art CDMA phones in North America and other markets around the world, and has the opportunity to offer QUALCOMM's High Data Rate technology. We are excited about Kyocera's new phone models being introduced in Japan and expect to see these models available shortly in the United States." The alliance represents a major breakthrough for Kyocera in North America, where Kyocera has only recently begun to market its wireless phones. "Kyocera will now have a comprehensive global infrastructure for producing and delivering CDMA handsets -- from world-leading R&D and production, to sales, marketing and support," said Yasuo Nishiguchi, president of Kyocera Corporation, the group's parent company headquartered in Kyoto, Japan. "With this North American business base, and our existing operations in Japan and South Korea, our wireless handset business covers the three largest regional markets for CDMA equipment. We are ready to provide handsets to any CDMA carrier in the world." QUALCOMM will form a new subsidiary with a substantial number of employees from QUALCOMM Consumer Products, as identified by Kyocera. Through a strategic alliance, these employees' services will be contracted to Kyocera on a cost-plus basis to support Kyocera's phone business for up to three years. Selected employees of QUALCOMM Personal Electronics (QPE), a manufacturing joint venture between QUALCOMM and Sony Electronics, will be transferred to the newly formed unit of Kyocera. QUALCOMM will incur a one-time charge in the first quarter of fiscal 2000 of approximately US$30 million before taxes.

To: Annette who wrote (55962)	12/22/1999 4:59:00 PM
From: puzzlecraft	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 152472

Kyocera Defined (from PR) Kyocera Corporation is the leading shareholder in DDI Corporation, one of two CDMA carriers in Japan, which was established by Dr. Kazuo Inamori, Kyocera's founder and chairman emeritus, in 1984. On December 16, 1999, DDI announced an agreement to acquire two of Japan's other leading telecommunications providers, KDD and IDO, to form a unified CDMA carrier under the DDI name next year. The new DDI, which will be Japan's second- largest telecommunications carrier, will be a global leader in wireless data and third-generation systems. DDI and IDO are among the first CDMA carriers worldwide to introduce CDMA services supporting 64 kbps data rates. Using QUALCOMM chipsets, Kyocera is able to expand its product offering to include these advanced features. Since its founding in 1959 as a manufacturer of technical ceramics, Kyocera Corporation (www.kyocera.com) has developed a vertically integrated product line that includes high-performance materials, components, equipment and services. The company's consolidated annual sales for the year ended March 31, 1999, totaled 725 billion yen (US$6.1 billion) with net income of 28 billion yen (US$239 million). Kyocera employs approximately 38,000 people worldwide and has been named by Industry Week magazine as one of "The World's 100 Best-Managed Companies."