DALLAS AND GENEVA - Wireless industry leaders join efforts to stimulate an open environment for CDMA handsets - STMicroelectronics (NYSE:STM) (ST), Texas Instruments Incorporated (NYSE:TXN) (TI), and Nokia (NYSE: NOK) today announced that TI and ST will offer ICs, based on technology developed jointly with Nokia that together compose standard CDMA chipsets. The chipset ICs will be marketed by ST and TI to handset manufacturers worldwide for cdma2000 1X and 1xEV-DV (1x Evolution for Data and Voice) mobile Internet handsets. This technology has been incorporated in the Nokia-specific chipset used in its cdma2000 1X phones, and following generations of this technology will be used in Nokia-specific chipsets for future 1xEV-DV handsets. Availability of qualified samples of the cdma2000 1X chipset is expected next quarter.
"CDMA handset manufacturers now have unprecedented choices to design innovative and competitive cdma2000 wireless products based on these open, standard CDMA chipset solutions from ST and TI," said Gilles Delfassy, senior vice president of TI's wireless business unit. "This will stimulate healthy competition in the CDMA market and fuel the growth and evolution of handset designs, features and roadmaps."
TI and ST are uniting elements of their respective technologies into a portfolio of ICs forming CDMA chipsets which target multiple market segments and present handset manufacturers with flexibility and choice through open hardware interfaces, including interfaces to RF subsystems and application processors. An open Application Programming Interface (API) that will facilitate customisation of products and accelerate the proliferation of easily portable applications onto this platform provides additional flexibility.
The chipsets will provide reduced bill-of-materials cost compared to similar offerings, low-power consumption for both standby and talk times, and the benefit of suppliers with world-class production facilities and proven wireless chipset expertise. In addition to the initial CDMA chipset targeting the cdma2000 1X standard, handset manufacturers will also have a time-to-market advantage for future cdma2000 1xEV-DV handsets with the industry's first complete chipset for this market.
"To accelerate the growth of the CDMA market, it is essential to give handset manufacturers a choice of competitive solutions and suppliers. By combining our complementary strengths, TI and ST are uniquely positioned to stimulate the rapid growth of this market by jointly offering the most competitive chipset ICs," said Aldo Romano, corporate VP and general manager of ST's Telecommunications, Peripherals and Automotive groups. "Building on the successful relationship between the two leaders, this new cooperation reinforces our joint commitment to driving openness in the mobile terminal market."
The complete CDMA chipset solutions based on this proven technology, developed jointly with or licensed from Nokia, will include an analog baseband/power management chip, a digital baseband chip, associated protocol software, RF chips and reference designs. Development and testing tools, as well as world-class support around the globe will be available from both companies for their respective ICs.
"In order to help create new alternatives and greater opportunity in the CDMA marketplace, Nokia is working with TI and ST who in turn are developing a viable, proven alternative to what already exists in the market. This ensures that CDMA operators gain the benefits of an open, flexible technology that can only be achieved in a true multi-vendor environment," said Soren Petersen, senior vice president and general manager of Nokia Mobile Phones CDMA business.
In addition to the CDMA chipset solutions, ST and TI will make available their own complementary wireless technologies including applications processors, which support the OMAPI standard, wireless LAN, Bluetooth, and GPS location technology. ST offers Flash memory products as an option to complement the chipset. Both ST and TI offer customers leading-edge semiconductor manufacturing capabilities with the demonstrated ability to support high-performance, low-power, and cost-effective silicon in high-volume production.
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 2002, the Company's net revenues were $6.32 billion and net earnings were $429.4 million. Further information on ST can be found at http://www.st.com.
About Texas Instruments
Texas Instruments Incorporated provides innovative DSP and Analog technologies to meet our customers' real world signal processing requirements. In addition to Semiconductor, the company's businesses include Sensors & Controls, and Educational & Productivity Solutions. TI is headquartered in Dallas, Texas, and has manufacturing, design or sales operations in more than 25 countries.
Texas Instruments is traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol TXN. More information is located on the World Wide Web at http://www.ti.com .
About Nokia
Nokia is the world leader in mobile communications. Backed by its experience, innovation, user-friendliness and secure solutions, the company has become the leading supplier of mobile phones and a leading supplier of mobile, fixed broadband and IP networks. By adding mobility to the Internet Nokia creates new opportunities for companies and further enriches the daily lives of people. Nokia is a broadly held company with listings on six major exchanges.
