NEC, NEC Electronics, Matsushita, Panasonic Mobile and Texas Instruments Establish New Joint Venture to Develop Communications Platform for Mobile Han28 July 2006
Development, Design, and Technology Licensing for Global Markets
TOKYO, July 27, 2006 -- NEC Corporation ("NEC"), NEC Electronics Corporation ("NEC Electronics"), Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. Ltd. ("Matsushita"), Panasonic Mobile Communications Co. Ltd. ("Panasonic Mobile") and Texas Instruments Incorporated ("Texas Instruments") today announced that the five companies have signed an agreement to establish a new joint venture company. The company will conduct global development, design, and technology licensing for a hardware and software communications platform (*1) to manage the core communications functions for mobile handsets for the third generation (3G/3.5G) and beyond.
The new company, Adcore-Tech Co., Ltd ("Adcore-Tech"), is scheduled to be established in August, 2006 at the Yokosuka Research Park in Yokosuka, Japan, with approximately 180 employees. The five companies will jointly invest 12.0 billion yen in the new joint venture, with approximately 44 percent held jointly by NEC and NEC Electronics, approximately 44 percent held jointly by Matsushita and Panasonic Mobile, and approximately 12 percent held by Texas Instruments.
As mobile phones become increasingly sophisticated and improved with the integration of music, video, broadcasting and other new technologies for internet and high-speed, high-volume communications, an extraordinary amount of resources are required for their development.
Through this joint venture, NEC and Panasonic Mobile, which have played crucial roles in leading the industry in developing and implementing 3G/3.5G (W-CDMA/HSDPA) technology handsets, will team with communications chip(chipset) manufacturers Matsushita, NEC Electronics and Texas Instruments. This aims at concentration of the technologies and development resources of all five companies, thereby facilitating speedy and efficient development of the increasingly sophisticated communications technology for mobile handsets at 3G/3.5G and beyond, and contributing to the advancement of the 3G/3.5G and beyond mobile handset industry at large.
As a result, NEC and Panasonic Mobile will be able to continue delivering attractive products to mobile operators and users, which stay abreast of advances in communications technologies, and help improve the foundation of the companies mobile handset businesses.
Mobile handsets based on the new communications platform to be developed by the joint venture company are expected to become available in the fall of 2007.
The investment and operations of the new company will be established as follows:
1. In addition to investing in the new company, NEC, NEC Electronics, Matsushita, Panasonic Mobile, and Texas Instruments will license communications technology to the new company for 2.5G/3G/3.5G. Based on the technologies licensed, the new company will develop a competitive communications platform for 3G/3.5G and beyond.
2. The new company will license communications chip technology to NEC Electronics, Matsushita s Semiconductor Company, and Texas Instruments. NEC and Panasonic Mobile will incorporate chips manufactured based on this technology into their mobile handsets.
3. NEC Electronics, Matsushita s Semiconductor Company and Texas Instruments will also sell these chips to mobile handset manufacturers in Japan and worldwide.
4. The new company will license comprehensive solutions, including communications platform and necessary software, system evaluation, and customizing services to mobile handset manufacturers.
(*1) Communication Platform
All hardware and software covering (1) Basic circuit design for LSIs (2) Software to control basic circuit (3) Communication core to operate on (1) and (2), (4) Software operating as modem to coordinate (1) to (3).
About NEC
NEC Corporation (NASDAQ: NIPNY) is one of the world s leading providers of Internet, broadband network and enterprise business solutions dedicated to meeting the specialized needs of its diverse and global base of customers. NEC delivers tailored solutions in the key fields of computer, networking and electron devices, by integrating its technical strengths in IT and Networks, and by providing advanced semiconductor solutions through NEC Electronics Corporation. The NEC Group employs more than 150,000 people worldwide and had net sales of approximately 4,825 billion yen (approx. $41.2 billion) in the fiscal year ended March 2006.
For additional information, please visit the NEC home page at: http://www.nec.com
*Newsroom: http://www.nec.co.jp/press/en/
About NEC Electronics
NEC Electronics Corporation (TSE: 6723) specializes in semiconductor products encompassing advanced technology solutions for the high-end computing and broadband networking markets, system solutions for the mobile handsets, PC peripherals, automotive and digital consumer markets, and multi-market solutions for a wide range of customer applications. NEC Electronics Corporation has 25 subsidiaries worldwide including NEC Electronics America, Inc. (www.am.necel.com) and NEC Electronics (Europe) GmbH (www.eu.necel.com). For additional information about NEC Electronics worldwide, visit www.necel.com.
About Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd. (Panasonic)
Best known by its Panasonic brand name, Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd. is a worldwide leader in the development and manufacture of electronic products for a wide range of consumer, business, and industrial needs. Based in Osaka, Japan, the company recorded consolidated net sales of US$76.02 billion for the year ended March 31, 2006. The company s shares are listed on the Tokyo, Osaka, Nagoya, New York (NYSE:MC) and Frankfurt* stock exchanges. For more information on the company and the Panasonic brand, visit the company s website at http://panasonic.net.
*Matsushita delisted its shares from the Amsterdam Stock Exchange in June 2006, and plans to complete delisting procedures for the Frankfurt Stock Exchange in August 2006.
About Panasonic Mobile Communications
Panasonic Mobile Communications Co., Ltd., whose headquarters are based in Yokohama, Japan, is a worldwide leader in the development and manufacture of mobile communications products. As one of the main business domains for Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd., best known for its Panasonic brand digital electronics, Panasonic has been developing cutting edge technologies since its establishment in 1958, including the world s first 3G video handset for the Japanese market in 2001. Panasonic is committed in providing added-value solutions to end-users through its mobile communication products. For more information, please visit www.panasonic.co.jp/pmc/en
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 includes the Educational & Productivity Solutions business. 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
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Attachment
Outline of the New Company (Tentative)
Company name: Adcore-Tech Co., Ltd
Headquarters: Yokosuka Research Park, Yokosuka City, Kanagawa Prefecture
Date of establishment: August, 2006
Business: Development, licensing, maintenance service, and system evaluation of communications platform for mobile phones
Capital: 12.0 billion yen (6.0 billion yen capital; 6.0 billion yen capital reserves)
Controlling stakes: NEC / NEC Electronics: approximately 44% (5.3 billion yen)
Matsushita / Panasonic Mobile: approximately 44% (5.3 billion yen)
Texas Instruments: approximately 12% (1.4 billion yen)
Employees: Approximately 180
Management structure: To be decided (President, Vice president, and 2 board members)
At the time of establishment, the president will be appointed from Panasonic Mobile and the vice president from NEC.
Renee Fancher
Media Contact
Texas Instruments Incorporated
+1 214 567 7447
rfancher@ti.com
Source: webwire
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