Ericsson awarded Bluetooth license agreement by Winbond

November 12, 2003 - Ericsson Technology Licensing today announced a licensing agreement with Winbond, a leading semiconductor manufacturer from Taiwan. The license agreement covers the Ericsson Core Bluetooth Radios K-E1 and K-D1.

The license agreement enables Winbond to design and manufacture complete Bluetooth solutions together with a proprietary baseband. Winbond can tailor Ericsson’s solutions for all of the major Bluetooth applications such as human interface devices, headsets and mobile phones.

“This deal is important to us because Winbond is a leading company within Asian semiconductor design and manufacturing,” says Maria Khorsand, President of Ericsson Technology Licensing. “We strongly believe that Winbond, due to its leading position, will penetrate the Taiwanese market with Bluetooth solutions. In addition, thanks to Winbond’s strong global presence, Winbond will become a key player in the Bluetooth adoption rate worldwide.”

“In a rapidly changing and highly competitive semiconductor industry, it is important to choose the right partner,” says Chun-Ming Chang, Assistant Vice President Network Access Product Center at Winbond Electronics. “We chose Ericsson because of their leading role in Bluetooth and the outstanding performance of their Bluetooth Core Radios. Ericsson could offer us products that would not only meet the present demands but also those of the future due to their wide expertise in areas such as Bluetooth Radio, Baseband, Software, Qualification, and Interoperability testing.”

The Ericsson Core Bluetooth Radio K-E1 is designed in TSMC’s 0.18um RF-CMOS process and offers a low requirement on external components and the smallest die size available on the market. The Ericsson Core Bluetooth Radio K-D1 license package will allow Winbond to differentiate products that specifically target the Bluetooth market segments Winbond is pursuing.

Ericsson is shaping the future of Mobile and Broadband Internet communications through its continuous technology leadership. Providing innovative solutions in more than 140 countries, Ericsson is helping to create the most powerful communication companies in the world. Read more at http://www.ericsson.com/press

About Ericsson Technology Licensing
Ericsson Technology Licensing develops state-of-the-art Bluetooth design solutions optimized for mobile communication, computing and media devices. As a major driving force behind the Bluetooth initiative, we have been instrumental in the development of Bluetooth wireless technology from a simple idea into a widely acclaimed industry standard. Our complete portfolio of IP Cores for Bluetooth baseband and radio together with a complete Bluetooth software package, qualification services, training and design services provides semiconductor and original equipment manufacturers the fastest, most reliable course for implementing Bluetooth wireless technology in new products.

About Winbond Electronics Corporation
Winbond Electronics Corporation was founded in 1987 and is based in Hsinchu Science-Based Industrial Park, Taiwan. It has become the largest branded IC Company in Taiwan, offering a broad range of micro controller-based consumer IC, PC and peripheral ICs, network access IC and memory ICs. Winbond is a market leader in PC I/O controllers and speech synthesizers in Taiwan and East Asia. Currently, Winbond has three wafer fabs in operation and utilizes process technology down to 0.11 micron. With more than 3,900 employees worldwide, the Company has subsidiaries in San Jose, USA; Japan; Hong Kong and Shanghai, China. Further information is available at: http://www.winbond.com