Peregrine Semiconductor Corp. and GMT Microelectronics Corp. Finalize a Foundry and Wireless-Product Alliance Based on Peregrine's UTSi CMOS SOI Technology

Business Wire, May 13, 1999

SAN DIEGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 13, 1999--

Dennis A. Peasenell, chairman, president and chief executive officer of GMT Microelectronics Corp., and Stavro E. Prodromou, president and CEO of Peregrine Semiconductor Corp., announced an agreement in which Peregrine will license GMT its UTSi(R) CMOS-Silicon on Insulator (SOI) technology and GMT in turn will supply Peregrine with foundry services, as well as develop its own line of high-performance products based on this SOI process.

Prodromou said: "Peregrine has been the developer and leading supplier of this high-performance RF-CMOS SOI process, and we are very excited about this collaborative partnership to develop UTSi as a preferred RF-CMOS process for wireless IC solutions.

"Peregrine will continue to lead the development of RF solutions for the cellular market and to expand our highly successful Rad Hard product offering for the commercial satellite market. GMT will open up new opportunities for the UTSi technology with their focus on the other segments of the wireless market and give our customers access to an additional source of UTSi wafers."

Peasenell said: "This alliance moves Peregrine and GMT as partners into the forefront of providers of ICs to the wireless RF design community. GMT intends to develop its own line of RF circuits to support the needs of the wireless-communications market. We are also exploring other areas of synergy to advance our partnership by building on this core relationship."

About Peregrine Semiconductor

Peregrine has headquarters in San Diego. The company offers integrated RF products that take advantage of its industry-leading SOI process, called UTSi. This process allows easy integration of RF circuits with complex digital functions on the same die with no degradation of RF or digital performance and with very low power.

Peregrine has developed PLLs, Mixers and complete transceiver single-chip solutions for cellular, paging and other handheld products. UTSi is an inherently Rad Hard process that has been widely accepted as a leading technology for products for the commercial satellite market.

About GMT Microelectronics

GMT is based in Valley Forge, Pa. The company has sales offices in Tampa, Fla.; Dallas; Laguna Hills and San Jose, Calif.; Europe; and the Far East.

GMT offers a wide range of power-management and interface products to include SmarTERM SCSI Active Terminators, Timers, LDO voltage regulators, PWMs and proprietary PC Power Supply Controllers. Foundry services are also offered on high-voltage BiCMOS, BCDMOS, Bipolar, PMOS, NMOS and CMOS processes to 60v for power-management and interface products.