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.
(
http://www.am.necel.com/)
and NEC Electronics (Europe) GmbH (
http://www.eu.necel.com/). For
additional information about NEC Electronics worldwide, visit
http://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), Euronext Amsterdam and Frankfurt
stock exchanges. For more information on the company and the
Panasonic brand, visit the company's website at
http://panasonic.net/.
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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