SST Acquires Flash Memory Technology Company
2005年4月12日 - 5:05PM
PRニュース・ワイアー (英語)
SST Acquires Flash Memory Technology Company Acquisition Enables
SST to Expand Technology Licensing Portfolio With NAND Flash
SUNNYVALE, Calif., April 12 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- SST (Silicon
Storage Technology, Inc., Nasdaq: SSTI), a leader in flash memory
technology, today announced it has acquired substantially all of
the shares of privately held Actrans Systems, Inc. Founded in 2000
and headquartered in Hsinchu, Taiwan, Actrans Systems is a fabless
IC company that designs flash memory and EEPROM. SST plans to
incorporate Actrans' split-gate NAND flash technology into its
portfolio of licensable IP. Under the terms of the share purchase
agreement, which was signed on April 11, 2005, SST will pay
Actrans' shareholders approximately $20 million in common stock and
cash. SST expects to complete the purchase of the remaining three
percent of shares this week. The company's engineers will be merged
into SST's Standard Memory Product Group, working in both Taiwan
and the United States. Actrans Systems, Inc. is a designer and
developer of flash memory technology and products that also offers
IP services for embedded and customer specific applications using
flash memory and EEPROM IP macros. Actrans' split-gate NAND flash
memory technologies utilize a 0.15 and 0.12-micron process for
targeted densities ranging from 256 Mbit to 1Gbit. The technology
has been validated by Powerchip Semiconductor Corporation (PSC), a
licensee of SST's SuperFlash technology and an early investor in
Actrans Systems. SST expects to license these split-gate NAND
products to PSC and collaborate with PSC to bring these and other
higher density products into volume production. "As we have
previously discussed, we continue to look at opportunities to
expand our IP and deep sub-micron licensing business through
acquisitions and partnerships," said Bing Yeh, SST's president and
chief executive officer. "The acquisition of Actrans Systems is
very strategic, as it complements our internal high-density data
storage flash development effort and enables us to broaden our IP
licensing portfolio to include NAND flash memory technologies. We
believe Actrans' proprietary split-gate NAND flash memory
technology is an attractive solution that will blend nicely with
SST's extensive licensing business." "SST has a proven track record
of turning advanced technology into licensable IP that can be
leveraged by its extensive network of foundry partners," said
Chiou-Feng Chen, president and founder of Actrans Systems. "We
believe our flash memory technology will be complementary to SST,
enabling us to seamlessly integrate our technology and resources
into SST's product offering." About SuperFlash Technology SST's
SuperFlash technology is a NOR type, split-gate cell architecture
which uses a reliable thick-oxide process with fewer manufacturing
steps resulting in a low-cost, nonvolatile memory solution with
excellent data retention and higher reliability. The split-gate NOR
SuperFlash architecture facilitates a simple and flexible design
suitable for high performance, high reliability, small or medium
sector size, in- or off-system programming and a variety of
densities, all in a single CMOS-compatible technology. About
Silicon Storage Technology, Inc. Headquartered in Sunnyvale,
California, SST designs, manufactures and markets a diversified
range of nonvolatile memory solutions, based on proprietary,
patented SuperFlash technology, for high volume applications in the
digital consumer, networking, wireless communications and Internet
computing markets. SST's product families include various densities
of high functionality flash memory components, flash mass storage
products and flash microcontrollers. SST also offers its SuperFlash
technology for embedded applications through its world-class
manufacturing partners and technology licensees including 1st
Silicon (Malaysia) Sdn. Bhd., Grace Semiconductor Manufacturing
Corporation (Grace), IBM, Motorola, Inc., Nanotech Corporation,
National Semiconductor Corporation, NEC Corporation, Oki Electric
Industry Co. Ltd., Powerchip Semiconductor Corp., Samsung
Electronics Co. Ltd., SANYO Electric Co., Ltd., Seiko Epson Corp.,
Shanghai Hua Hong NEC Electronics Co., Ltd., Taiwan Semiconductor
Manufacturing Co. Ltd. (TSMC), Toshiba Corporation, Vanguard
International Semiconductor Corporation and Winbond Electronics
Corp. TSMC offers embedded SuperFlash under its trademark
Emb-FLASH. Further information on SST can be found on the company's
Web site at http://www.sst.com/ . Forward-Looking Statements Except
for the historical information contained herein, this news release
contains forward-looking statements regarding flash memory market
conditions, the company's future financial performance, the
performance of new products and the company's ability to bring new
products to market that involve risks and uncertainties. These
risks may include timely development, acceptance and pricing of new
products, the terms and conditions associated with licensees'
royalty payments, the impact of competitive products and pricing,
and general economic conditions as they affect the company's
customers, as well as other risks detailed from time to time in the
company's SEC reports, including the Annual Report on Form 10-K for
the year ended December 31, 2004. For more information about SST
and the company's comprehensive list of product offerings, please
call 888-SST-CHIP. Information can also be requested via email to
or through SST's Web site at http://www.sst.com/ . SST's head
office is located at 1171 Sonora Court, Sunnyvale, Calif.;
telephone: 408-735-9110; fax: 408-735-9036. NOTE: The SST logo and
SuperFlash are registered trademarks of Silicon Storage Technology,
Inc. Emb-FLASH is a trademark of TSMC. All other trademarks or
registered trademarks are the property of their respective holders.
CONTACT: Sohrab Kianian, Vice President, Technology Licensing &
Business Development of Silicon Storage Technology, Inc.,
+1-408-735-9110, or ; or Steve Gabriel of Porter Novelli,
+1-408-369-4600, ext. 627, or , for Silicon Storage Technology,
Inc. DATASOURCE: Silicon Storage Technology, Inc. CONTACT: Sohrab
Kianian, Vice President, Technology Licensing & Business
Development of Silicon Storage Technology, Inc., +1-408-735-9110,
or ; or Steve Gabriel of Porter Novelli, +1-408-369-4600, ext. 627,
or , for Silicon Storage Technology, Inc. Web site:
http://www.sst.com/
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