Faraday Selects Alvand Technologies AFE (Analog Front End) IP to Support Next Generation Wireless Applications

Santa Clara, Calif. -- Jul. 6, 2010 -- Faraday Technology Corporation [TAIEX: 3035], a leading ASIC and silicon IP provider, today announced that it has selected the Analog Front End (AFE) IP in UMC 65nm from Alvand Technologies, Inc., a leading provider of high-performance, ultra low-power mixed-signal IP solutions. The selected AFE IP offers the industry's lowest power consumption and smallest die size, ideally suited for most advanced silicon devices for LTE, CDMA, WIMAX, and 802.11 communication systems for both handset and infrastructure equipment.

Through joint efforts and collaboration Faraday and Alvand has successfully integrated the high-performance AFE from Alvand along with advanced high performance CPU and DSP platform to deliver a highly integrated femtocell solution. All the modules in the design are integrated and verified by utilizing Faraday's platform-based design service (SoCompilerTM) flow, while the very noise-sensitive analog modules, such as AFEs, are merged for ultra low interference. This highly integrated SoC enables our customer to deliver best-in-class femtocell system to the market by providing a feature rich product and higher quality through tighter integration.

"We're excited to be able to provide to our customers the integration of Alvand's advanced AFE solutions into our platform,” said Luis Ancajas, the general manager at Faraday U.S.A. "The project was a huge success and demonstrated both of our capabilities via first time working silicon, and is a good beginning for us to further penetrate a fast growing wireless market.”

The selected Alvand's MIMO Wireless AFE for next generation wireless applications is a low power and ultra compact IP designed in standard UMC 65 nm logic process, consisting of three 12-bit IQ ADC cores, four 12-bit current-steering IQ DAC cores, and a PLL. The ADC and the DAC utilize fully differential architecture.

"We are pleased that Alvand's AFE has been selected by Faraday to perfectly demonstrate its performance,” said Mansour Keramat, president and CEO at Alvand Technologies. “The advanced IP of Alvand's MIMO Wireless AFE along with Faraday's excellence in delivery complex SoCs has proved to be an excellent combination for our customers. We believe by the partnership Alvand can further extend and promote our solutions to more market domains and customers.”

About Alvand Technologies

Alvand Technologies is an award winning fables semiconductor company that specializes in high-performance, high speed analog and mixed signal solutions for wireless and wired communications, imaging, ultrasound. Alvand provides intellectual property (IP) solutions to high performance and high speed video AFEs, ADCs and DACs using ultra low power and small core area, with patented substrate noise isolation.  

About Faraday Technology Corporation

Faraday Technology Corporation is a leading fabless ASIC and silicon IP provider. The company's broad silicon IP portfolio includes Cell Library, Memory Compiler, ARM-compliant CPUs, DDRI/II/III, MPEG4, H.264, USB 2.0/3.0, 10/100 Ethernet, Serial ATA, and PCI Express. With 2009 revenue of US$160 million, Faraday is one of the largest fabless ASIC companies in the Asia-Pacific region, and it also has a significant presence in other world-wide markets. Headquartered in Taiwan, Faraday has service and support offices around the world, including the U.S., Japan, Europe, and China. For more information, please visit : www.faraday-tech.com