picoChip Ranks in Top Three Fastest Growing Technology Companies in the UK in the 2008 Deloitte Technology Fast 50

Business Wire, Oct 27, 2008

picoChip Attributes Its 4483 Percent Revenue Growth to the Emergence of the Femtocell Market

BATH, England -- picoChip today announced that it ranked number three in the 2008 Deloitte Technology Fast 50, a ranking of the 50 fastest growing technology companies in the UK. Rankings are based on average percentage revenue growth over five years. picoChip grew 4483 percent during this period.

Guillaume d'Eyssautier, picoChip's president and CEO, credits the emergence and the establishment of the femtocell market with the company's 4483% revenue growth over the past five years: "picoChip made an early investment in femtocells and all our subsequent hard work has paid off. Picking the right horse to back can be a tough choice and with advanced wireless it is no exception. We on the other hand choose to use our proprietary technology to back the whole pack with femtocells and it has paid dividends."

"Growing the top line enough to make the Deloitte Technology Fast 50 is especially meaningful during tough economic times for the technology sector," comments David Halstead, lead partner for the Deloitte Fast 50. "The Fast 50 provides a fascinating view of the evolving structure of the UK's tech sector, with software and internet businesses making up the bulk of the fastest growing companies. While their products and services are at the extreme cutting edge of global technology, it is important to note that it is not just technology that makes these companies leaders in their sectors - it is about the quality of the people and their Intellectual Property (IP)."

"Being one of the fastest growing technology companies in the UK is an impressive accomplishment. We commend picoChip for making the Deloitte Technology Fast 50 with a phenomenal 4483% growth rate over five years," said Laurence Hedditch, Deloitte Technology partner for the South West of England.

picoChip is the only semiconductor company focused solely on wireless infrastructure currently shipping silicon. It provides baseband solutions to address the key challenges of cost, development time and flexibility for the next generation of wireless systems. The company's multi-core processors deliver a world-beating price/performance combination. picoChip is the industry standard architecture for WiMAX basestations, and is the leading supplier for the new wave of femtocells, with support for TD-SCDMA, HSPA, LTE, cdma2000/EvDO and GSM/GPRS/EDGE. The company's products scale from femtocell access points to picocells and sophisticated multi-sector carrier macrocells.

Fast 50 Selection and Qualifications

The Fast 50 list is compiled from Deloitte's nominations submitted directly to the Fast 50, and public company database research. To qualify for the Fast 50, entrants must have had 2003 operating revenues of at least 34,000. Deloitte researchers examined financial statements to validate operating revenues.

Entrants must also be public or private companies headquartered in a participating region of the UK and must be a "technology company," defined as a company that owns proprietary technology that contributes to a significant portion of the company's operating revenues; or devotes a significant proportion of revenues to the research and development of technology. Using other companies' technology in a unique way does not qualify.