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To: Dave B who wrote (53167)	9/13/2000 12:49:49 AM
From: Don Green	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 93625

TOSHIBA AND TESSERA ANNOUNCE INNOVATIVE LICENSING AGREEMENT Sep 12, 2000 (AsiaPulse via COMTEX) -- (Full text of a statement. Contact details below.) TOKYO, September 13/KYODO JBN-AsiaNet/-- Toshiba Corporation and Tessera Inc., a leading provider and licensor of chip-scale packaging (CSP) technology, today announced they have signed an innovative technology licensing agreement that will enable Tessera to act as the exclusive licensor of Toshiba's wire-bonded version of Tessera's JBGA(R) chip-scale package. Based on Tessera's core patents, the wire-bonded JBGA package is currently used by Toshiba in its main memory products (64Mb SDRAM and 128/144/256/288Mb Rambus DRAM), which ship not only in PCs, but also in the new Sony PlayStation(R)2 game console. The agreement represents an important milestone for both companies: it is a unique opportunity for Toshiba's Semiconductor group to appoint another company to exclusively license one of its packaging processes for sublicensing to the rest of the industry, and it will be the first packaging process licensed by Tessera that was not fully developed internally. This arrangement marks the inaugural step in Tessera's new strategy to broadly license and standardize packages that its licensees have developed using Tessera's patent portfolio. "Toshiba licensed Tessera's intellectual property and used it to develop an innovative derivative of our JBGA CSP," said Bruce McWilliams, president and CEO of Tessera. "Through our new relationship, Tessera will enable Toshiba to leverage its R&D investment by licensing the wire-bonded JBGA technology to Tessera's broad, worldwide customer base of semiconductor manufacturers and assemblers and helping to standardize this CSP technology. In return, Toshiba is making it possible for Tessera to offer a wider range of packaging solutions to its current and future licensees." By expanding Tessera's product offerings, the licensing agreement will enable the company to provide its licensees with a broad range of packaging processes that meet the needs of current and next generation applications that require CSP technology. The design of the wire-bonded JBGA package makes the technology well suited to a wide range of semiconductor applications, and also allows assemblers to leverage the well-established wire-bonding infrastructure. The wire-bonded JBGA package is currently available to all of Tessera's licensees, and Tessera plans to make "turnkey" consulting services for this solution available to its licensees in the Fall. "Tessera is one of the few companies in the world that has the infrastructure required to broadly license advanced packaging technology, as well as a services organization that can enable assemblers to achieve production capability as quickly as possible," said Shigeo Koguchi, vice president of the Memory Division at Toshiba Corporation Semiconductor Company. "The agreement creates an opportunity for Toshiba to broadly introduce our technology to the world, and for our current material and equipment vendors to expand their business - which creates a more cost-competitive standard supporting infrastructure for our wire-bonded JBGA package while providing second sourcing for our internal test and assembly business. Additionally, our wire-bonded JBGA technology enables assemblers to use existing wire-bonding equipment." Terms of Agreement According to the terms of the agreement, Toshiba will transfer technical and engineering information related to the manufacture of the wire-bonded JBGA chip-scale package to Tessera, and also provide technical assistance to Tessera during the transfer. Tessera will become the exclusive licensor of Toshiba's wire-bonded JBGA process, except for a few on-going second sourcing partners, and will offer this technology to its licensee base of semiconductor manufacturers and assemblers in the form of expanded licensing, technical training, consulting and licensee services. Tessera will endeavor to drive the wire-bonded JBGA technology as an alternative standard to Tessera's JBGA package for Rambus DRAM, SDRAM and DDR SDRAM. Tessera's "turnkey" licensee services address the time-to-market needs of all Tessera licensees - including those who license Toshiba's wire-bonded JBGA technology. These services enable licensees to leverage the expertise of Tessera's experienced engineers to achieve production capability as quickly as possible. By providing hands-on support throughout the entire installation of their manufacturing lines, Tessera can offer its licensees specific levels of yield and reliability and ensure that a standard equipment and material infrastructure is in place to support these assemblers as they move into high volume CSP production.