SST Expands Its Embedded Flash Thrust in the Wireless Market With Acquisition Of G-Plus
2004年10月18日 - 5:05PM
PRニュース・ワイアー (英語)
SST Expands Its Embedded Flash Thrust in the Wireless Market With
Acquisition Of G-Plus Purchase of Wireless IC Company Expected to
Accelerate Growth of Embedded SuperFlash in Wireless Communications
Applications SUNNYVALE, Calif., Oct. 18 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ --
SST (Silicon Storage Technology, Inc., Nasdaq: SSTI), a leader in
flash memory technology, today announced it has signed a definitive
agreement to acquire substantially all of the assets of privately
held G-Plus, Inc. G-Plus is a Santa Monica, California-based
fabless semiconductor manufacturer specializing in the design of
radio frequency integrated circuits for wireless multimedia and
broadband networking system applications. SST will pay
approximately $26.0 million in common stock and cash. It is
expected that G-Plus' 36 employees, including co-founders CTO Frank
Chang and president Daniel Chow, will join SST Communications
Corporation, a newly created wholly-owned subsidiary of SST, in
order to support current and future wireless customers. The
transaction is expected to close before mid-November and to be
accretive to SST's earnings per share within one year. Formed in
2001, G-Plus designs innovative radio frequency integrated circuits
and monolithic microwave integrated circuits for a wide range of
wireless and multimedia applications such as 802.11 a/b/g wireless
LAN and 5.8GHz wireless digital audio systems. G-Plus' product
offerings include high linearity and high-output power amplifiers,
direct conversion CMOS RF transceivers, digital modem chipsets,
synthesizers and switches. G-Plus' high-performance power
amplifiers complement solutions from other leading wireless chipset
companies. SST is committed to fully supporting G-Plus' wireless
chipset partners and customer base. SST Communications Corporation
will continue G-Plus' focus on designing and selling innovative ICs
to the wireless marketplace. "It has been SST's longtime strategy
to make SuperFlash the embedded memory of choice for wireless
applications and this acquisition is a major milestone in achieving
that goal," said Bing Yeh, SST's president and chief executive
officer. "The penetration of wireless technologies, such as 802.11,
in the enterprise and consumer markets has increased tremendously
in the past few years. Cell phones with a wireless LAN feature will
become very common in the future, allowing improved access to
network data and support for voice-over-network calling. At SST, we
see the growth of wireless technology continuing to a point where
wireless connectivity will be ubiquitous in devices ranging from
business equipment to home appliances and entertainment systems."
According to Yeh, the best way to accelerate the proliferation of
SuperFlash technology in the wireless space is to acquire a company
with innovative technology and a solid roadmap for growth, much
like what SST did in the SIM card market with the acquisition of
Emosyn. By working closely with innovative entrepreneurial
companies having complementary technologies, SST believes it can
develop better flash memory solutions. The system-oriented design
approach applied by G-Plus and its innovations in integrating
high-performance, energy efficient and cost-effective designs
closely mirror the achievements SST has made in the flash memory
industry. "SST will continue to provide high-performing, highly
reliable and scalable flash memory products to our customers in the
wireless arena. Through the acquisition of G-Plus and the formation
of SST Communications Corporation, we are better poised to address
the needs of our existing and future wireless customers and
complementary chipset suppliers worldwide," Yeh remarked. "We are
very excited about the acquisition by SST and the opportunities it
brings us in terms of volume manufacturing expertise and extensive
sales and marketing channels, which will help us continue to
provide high-performance solutions to complement chipset
suppliers," said Frank Chang, co-founder and CTO of G-Plus. "SST
has a well-established network of foundry partnerships that we
believe we can leverage to make our products even more cost
effective. Our focus and dedication to providing our customers with
complete RF solutions will remain unchanged now that we are part of
SST. We believe that the solid infrastructure and access to SST's
SuperFlash technology will help us create more extensive and robust
solutions for the wireless marketplace." Today's announcement comes
on the heels of SST's acquisition in September of a majority stake
in Emosyn LLC, a fabless semiconductor manufacturer specializing in
the design and marketing of smart card ICs. The acquisitions of
Emosyn and G-Plus are the latest moves in SST's ongoing commitment
to accelerate the growth of SuperFlash as the technology of choice
for embedded applications. Conference Call SST will hold a
conference call to discuss its third quarter 2004 financial results
at 1:30 p.m. Pacific on Wednesday, October 20, 2004. At this time,
the company will also discuss the acquisition of G-Plus and answer
questions from the investment community. Those wishing to
participate in the conference should dial 888-428-4478 using the
password "SST" at approximately 1:20 p.m. PDT. About G-Plus Founded
in July 2001, G-Plus is a fabless semiconductor company, providing
optimized end-to-end RF solutions to enable wireless multimedia and
broadband networking system applications. G-Plus designs RFICs
(transmitters, receivers, synthesizers), RF power amplifiers and
switches with a system-oriented approach. The company provides
optimized chip/module sets with a high level of integration, high
performance and superb production readiness to facilitate high
yield and low overall cost for wireless module/system
manufacturing. The company has offices in Santa Monica, Calif. and
Taipei, Taiwan. Further information on G-Plus can be found on the
company's Web site at http://www.g-plus.net/ . 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., National Semiconductor Corporation, NEC
Corporation, Oki Electric Industry Co. Ltd., 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 the timing of the proposed
acquisition of G-Plus, Inc., the timing of the accretive nature of
the acquisition, flash memory market conditions, SST's future
financial performance, the performance of new SST products and
SST's ability to bring new products to market, that involve risks
and uncertainties. These risks may include the integration of
G-Plus with SST, the retention of the G-Plus employees, the timely
development, acceptance and pricing of new products by SST
following the acquisition, the terms and conditions associated with
licensees' royalty payments, the impact of competitive products and
pricing, and general economic conditions as they affect SST's
customers, as well as other risks detailed from time to time in
SST's SEC reports, including the Annual Report on Form 10-K for the
year ended December 31, 2003, as amended and on Form 10-Q for the
quarters ended March 31, and June 30, 2004. For more information
about SST and SST's comprehensive list of product offerings, please
call 1-888/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, Sr. Director, Technology Licensing &
Business Development of Silicon Storage Technology, Inc.,
+1-408-735-9110, or ; or Steve Gabriel of Porter Novelli,
+1-408-369-1500 ext. 627, or , for SST. DATASOURCE: Silicon Storage
Technology, Inc. CONTACT: Sohrab Kianian, Sr. Director, Technology
Licensing & Business Development of Silicon Storage Technology,
Inc., +1-408-735-9110, or ; or Steve Gabriel of Porter Novelli,
+1-408-369-1500 ext. 627, or , for SST Web site:
http://www.g-plus.net/ Web site: http://www.sst.com/
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