Fujitsu Microelectronics Asia Pte Ltd

Fujitsu Microelectronics Strengthens R&D Capabilities in West China with Chengdu West Star Investment

Singapore, Dec 10, 2007  — Fujitsu Electronic Devices Group Asia (EDGA) today announced a majority investment in Chengdu West Star Chips Co., Ltd. to boost its R&D capabilities in Chengdu, West China. As part of expansion plans derived from this investment, West Star has relocated to new premises to accommodate the expected expansion of its R&D team by over 300 engineers in the next three years.

With Fujitsu as a majority shareholder, West Star will be mainly engaged in research and design development of semiconductor devices for digital audio and video, microcontrollers and analog products. It will also help to further enhance and deepen the integration of Fujitsu’s advanced and mature technologies. The alliance will further strengthen Fujitsu’s R&D capabilities in China and effectively address its local customers’ needs.

As one of China’s leading R&D companies, West Star’s has a well-earned reputation in both domestic and overseas digital audio and video market for its high-performance semiconductor devices. The company has also registered several technical patents and completed several turnkey in video processing applications. Currently, its collaboration with customers has been expanded from the HDTV market to the applications including video conversion, monitoring and projectors, and will continue to exploit new fields.

Becoming an important R&D partner of Fujitsu, West Star will benefit from the injection of Fujitsu’s expertise in advanced semiconductor technologies, manufacturing, sales and marketing, and logistics management. It will also be able to capitalise on Fujitsu’s existing distribution network.

With the collaboration, West Star will continue to enhance Fujitsu’s offerings in multimedia imaging technology. In addition, it will also integrate Fujitsu’s strong technical experience in microcontrollers and power management ICs. Taking advantage of the synergy in both companies’ technology know-how, West Star will eventually develop complete solutions for digital TV, consumer electronics, automotive applications and industrial control.

“Fujitsu has always been seeking projects that can coordinate with new developments in Central and Western China. At present, many cities in Central and Western China including Chengdu are expected to become important strongholds for multinationals as well as famous domestic and overseas enterprises in their global strategic plans. West Star in the future will become Fujitsu's most important R&D partner in Central and Western China, and the products it develops will also become a critical part of Fujitsu’s comprehensive digital multimedia, microcontroller and analog product solutions. Fujitsu will keep strengthening its investment and market development in China mainland based on that.” said Michael Shih, Chairman and CEO of Fujitsu Electronic Devices Group Asia.

Chengdu’s Hi-tech Zone is in the midst of consolidation, and Fujitsu EDGA’s investment in West Star is one of the largest made by an MNC in the sector.

Moving forward, West Star will become Fujitsu’s most important R&D partner in Central and Western China. Together with Fujitsu’s design centres in Japan, Europe, US and Asia, Fujitsu and West Star will collaboratively face domestic and overseas customers, seeking to develop solutions to quickly and effectively address customers’ next-generation technology needs.

---

About Fujitsu Electronic Devices Group (Asia)

Collaborating collectively on its distinct strengths and expertise, Fujitsu Microelectronics (Shanghai) Co.,Ltd., Fujitsu Microelectronics Asia Pte Ltd. and Fujitsu Microelectronics Pacific Asia Ltd. consort to form “Fujitsu Electronic Devices Group Asia” (in short, EDGA), to provide “a one-stop centre” of its semiconductor products to all customers in the entire Asia-Pacific region. Besides sales and marketing of semiconductor products, EDGA offers flexible business and system solutions for the digital AV, automotive, consumer electronic and mobile & wireless markets; design and technical support for its customers, locally and regionally.

With technology resource centres and ASIC design support centres strategically located in Shanghai, Hong Kong ,Taiwan and Singapore, EDGA can speedily and competitively meet customers’ stringent design-in requirements on ASSP, MCU and ASIC products. Heavy investments in design and engineering capabilities and application support resources, complemented by a regional network of design partners, suppliers and distributors, EDGA can readily delivers innovative and value-added solutions and varied range of products to its target markets in the Asia Pacific region.

About Fujitsu Microelectronics Asia Pte Ltd

Fujitsu Microelectronics Asia Pte Ltd (FMAL) was established in 1986 to provide semiconductor sales and support solutions to customers in Southeast Asia, India and Oceania. FMAL offers a diverse array of application-oriented semiconductor products and solutions such as ASIC, ASSPs, microcontrollers / microprocessors (FR-V), System Memory (Flash Memory / FRAM / FCRAM) and System LSIs (DVD MPEG Source Decoders / MPEG –2 Encoders).

---

Press Contacts