IDEX and Faraday Technology Form Partnership for ASIC Design and Mass Production

Oslo, Norway and Hsinchu, Taiwan -- October 18, 2006 -- Idex ASA, a Norwegian company specializing in fingerprint recognition, today announced that in line with its ongoing commoditization of the SmartFinger® swipe sensor, it has entered into agreements for design and mass production of its ASIC (Application Specific Integrated Circuit), with Faraday Technology, a leading IP and ASIC vendor, and SoC Technology, Faraday's system-on-chip design center and sales representative for central Europe.

"The ASIC is considered to be the most crucial part in order to complete the commercialization of a final product. With this agreement with Faraday Technology, Idex will be able to mass produce and deliver the SmartFinger® in the second half of 2007," said Fredrik Scheinert , Managing Director at Idex ASA. "We are proud of partnering with Faraday, a world leading ASIC vendor with specialized design expertise and experiences from thousands of successful designs. This partnership strengthens our presence in the fingerprint market. The adoption of biometric authentication is really starting to take off, and we firmly believe this relationship paves the road for future success in this hot market."

"We are very excited about the cooperation with Idex since Faraday sees great potentials in the rapid growing biometric industry, and we believe Idex is becoming a major player in the mobile, PC/Network and multi media arena. Through the partnership with Idex, Faraday can also further strengthen our ASIC design and production service presence in Europe,” said René Lie , General Manager of Faraday Technology, Europe .

About Idex's SmartFinger
Idex's SmartFinger® is a single-line fingerprint swipe sensor with low power consumption and optimal user experience through superior speed and skew correction. The sensor is inherently suited for integration into a wide range of applications, such as mobile phones, PDAs, smart phones, laptops, USB flash drives, and multimedia devices. Idex' business strategy is to establish partnerships with world-leading semiconductor manufacturers with the organization and facilities to mass produce and market the SmartFinger® technology worldwide.

About Idex ASA
Idex ASA is a Norwegian company specializing in fingerprint recognition. Idex has developed the SmartFinger ® sensor consisting of both hardware elements and software algorithms which enables identification and navigation capabilities within the very same module. Idex ASA is also a leading provider of intellectual property within the field of fingerprint swipe sensors. Revenues will be generated from license fees on IPR and sale of the SmartFinger ® sensor. Idex shares are traded on the A List of the Norwegian Stockbrokers Associations OTC List. www.idex.no

About SOC Technology
SOC Technology is a well established ASIC and System-on-Chip Design House with major design and sales activities in Central & Western Europe, providing both, technical and commercial Microchip Solutions for your products. The company develops complex deep-sub-micron analog and digital ASIC and System-on-Chip designs, particularly with embedded microprocessors, FLASH, DRAM. SOC Technology is headquartered in Schwalbach, close to Frankfurt, in Germany . Additional information can be found at: www.soc-tech.de .

About Faraday Technology Corporation
Faraday Technology Corporation is a leading silicon IP and fabless ASIC vendor. The company's broad SIP portfolio includes 32-bit RISC CPUs, DSPs, MPEG4, H.264, PHYs/Controllers for USB 2.0, 10/100 Ethernet, Serial ATA, PCI Express, Cell Library and Memory Compiler. With more than 650 employees and 2005 revenue of US$175 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