Palmchip and STMicroelectronics Team Up for Serial ATA Plugfest 2004

Palmchip¡¦s SATA device controller and ST¡¦s PHY  successfully tested with interfaces from other vendors.

San Jose, CA, March 17, 2004 ¡V Palmchip Corporation today announced the successful participation in the Serial ATA Plugfest 2004 in Longmont, CO.

The company demonstrated full interoperability between Palmchip¡¦s BK-3721 Serial ATA Device Interface Controller (including Link and Transport layers) and the SATA310 Serial ATA Phy from STMicroelectronics. The two technologies were integrated together to form a SATA disk drive that was successfully tested with SATA-compliant host and host bus adaptors from other vendors.

The SATA310 IP and the BK-3721 IP can be integrated into a system-on-chip device enabling customers to meet cost and performance targets for a variety of applications ranging from hard disk drives, optical drives, and solid-state drives.

¡§Through our collaboration with Palmchip, ST enhances its broad portfolio of proven semiconductor intellectual property for system-on-chip products,¡¨ said Francesco Brianti, Director of Marketing for the Data Storage Business Unit. ¡§Our companies will market this combined solution to provide drive manufacturers with a proven, cost effective solution that can be integrated with other functions in SoC devices.¡¨

¡§Combining ST¡¦s world leadership in semiconductor products and Palmchip¡¦s dominance in storage connectivity made a perfect match for success at Plugfest,¡¨ said Jim Venable, senior vice president of sales and marketing. ¡§We look forward to offering our customers a solid, proven solution for their Serial ATA applications.¡¨
Serial ATA is an evolutionary replacement for the parallel ATA physical storage interface. The Serial ATA specification calls for speed improvements ranging from 150MB/s for SATA I, 300MB/s for SATA II, and 600MB/s for SATA III. It also eases system design and integration by specifying a simpler cable and connector configuration. See www.serialata.org)

About STMicroelectronics
STMicroelectronics is a global leader in developing and delivering semiconductor solutions across the spectrum of microelectronics applications. An unrivalled combination of silicon and system expertise, manufacturing strength, Intellectual Property (IP) portfolio and strategic partners positions the Company at the forefront of System-on-Chip (SoC) technology and its products play a key role in enabling today's convergence markets. The Company's shares are traded on the New York Stock Exchange, on Euronext Paris and on the Milan Stock Exchange. In 2003, the Company's net revenues were $7.24 billion and net earnings were $253 million. Further information on ST can be found at www.st.com

About Palmchip
Palmchip Corporation develops and licenses configurable SoC platforms, subsystems, and IP cores for embedded SoC¡¦s used in a variety of applications. Palmchip's IP is based on its CoreFrame„¥ integration technology. This technology is independent of processor, I/O or foundry, allowing designers flexibility in porting IP from any number of sources. Palmchip was established in 1996 and is today a privately held company based in San Jose, California (USA). More information can be obtained at www.palmchip.com.

Palmchip, the palm leaf logo and CoreFrame are registered trademarks of Palmchip Corporation. StorSelect DS, DriveSelect, and SpeedSelect are trademarks of Palmchip Corporation. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners