Renesas Technology and Powerchip Semiconductor to Launch Joint Venture for Designing Memory Products

Business Wire, Jan 15, 2007

TOKYO -- Renesas Technology Corp. today announced that Renesas Technology Corp. and Powerchip Semiconductor Corp. have agreed to establish a joint venture that will specialize in the design of advanced memory devices.

Under the agreement, the two partner companies will both contribute engineering resources. The establishment of the new joint venture will enable both companies to overcome the key issues they are currently facing.

"As a system solution provider, Renesas faces a continuous need to provide highly-advanced, sophisticated SiP (System in Package) solutions for the various markets; i.e. digital consumer and communication, that require short development time," said Shigeru Mori, general manager of Renesas Technology's Memory Business Unit. "In order to provide high-performance, low-cost SiP solutions quickly to market, we must be able to efficiently design advanced custom embedded memory. The joint venture company will strengthen our design capability in reaching out to this important market."

"Powerchip Semiconductor, for its part, wishes to enhance its design resources," said Stephen Chen, Senior Vice President & General Manager of Memory Product Group at Powerchip Semiconductor Corp. "This agreement will enable us to offer an expanded lineup of standard memory devices bearing the Powerchip Semiconductor brand and to serve as a complement to the foundry services that presently are the company's main business segment."

Renesas Technology and Powerchip Semiconductor expect the joint venture to produce designs for new memory devices delivering enhanced performance at reduced cost.

Overview of Joint Venture

* Date of establishment: February, 2007

* Investment ratio: Renesas Technology 35%, Powerchip Semiconductor 65%

* Business activities: Design of advanced memory devices

* Company name: Vantel Co., Ltd. (Headquarters: Minato Ward, Tokyo)

* President: Shigeru Mori

About Renesas Technology Corp.

Renesas Technology Corp. is one of the world's leading semiconductor system solutions providers for mobile, automotive and PC/AV (Audio Visual) markets and the world's No.1 supplier of microcontrollers. It is also a leading provider of LCD Driver ICs, Smart Card microcontrollers, RF-ICs, High Power Amplifiers, Mixed Signal ICs, System-on-Chip (SoC), System-in-Package (SiP) and more. Established in 2003 as a joint venture between Hitachi, Ltd. (TOKYO:6501) (NYSE:HIT) and Mitsubishi Electric Corporation (TOKYO:6503), Renesas Technology achieved consolidated revenue of 906 billion JPY in FY2005 (end of March 2006). Renesas Technology is based in Tokyo, Japan and has a global network of manufacturing, design and sales operations in around 20 countries with about 26,200 employees worldwide. For further information, please visit http://www.renesas.com.

About Powerchip Semiconductor Corp.

Established in December 1994 in Taiwan Hsinchu Science Park, Powerchip Semiconductor Corp. (5346.TWO) focuses on the production and marketing of DRAM (Dynamic Random Access Memory) products. In 1998, PSC was listed publicly. As of 2006, PSC has three 12" (300mm) fabs and one 8" (200mm) fab, over 6,200 employees, and capital of over 62 billion NTD. Ever since its foundation, PSC has developed long term strategic relationships with Japanese High-Tech firms. With Elpida and Renesas as its strategic partners, PSC develops the most advanced products including DRAM, Flash and System LSI and foundry products. PSC achieved annual revenue of 51.611 Billion NTD in 2005. For further information, please visit http://www.psc.com.tw.

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