NEC Electronics Delivers Industry’s First PCI Express Bridge and Switch ASSPs

New Bridge and Switch ASSPs Provide Off-the-Shelf Support for Next-Generation PCI Standard

KAWASAKI, Japan, SANTA CLARA, Calif. and DUESSELDORF, Germany, — 15 Sep 2003 - NEC Electronics Corporation and its subsidiaries in the United States and Europe, NEC Electronics America, Inc. and NEC Electronics (Europe) GmbH, today announced the latest offerings in NEC Electronics’ line of PCI Express™ technology solutions: a PCI Express to PCI-X™ bridge application specific standard product (ASSP) and a PCI Express switch ASSP. Manufactured in NEC Electronics’ 0.15-micron (UX4) process technology, the PCI Express ASSPs are targeted for use in servers, workstations and other network-related applications. These ASSPs mark the first case in which the PCI Express technology will be available to customers in a standard product.

"With this announcement, NEC Electronics strengthens its position as a leading developer of PCI Express solutions,” said Tetsuo Yoshino, General Manager, 1st Custom LSI Division, 1st Business Operations Unit, NEC Electronics Corporation. “With the experience and expertise earned through our development of the industry’s first PCI Express base specification-compliant IP cores, we have achieved another industry first by implementing the IP in a standard product to provide our customers with off-the-shelf support for the PCI Express standard. The PCI Express core used for these ASSP products will also be provided to NEC Electronics’ ASIC customers as proven cores. NEC Electronics believes its support for both ASSPs and ASICs will contribute to the future growth of the PCI Express technology and will help the technology become standard in the computing I/O area in the near future.”

PCI Express is a third-generation, scalable I/O (input/output) architecture for use in desktop, mobile, server, communications platform, workstation and embedded devices. As PC and server CPUs and other I/O devices increase in speed, technologies like PCI Express are needed to ensure that I/O interfaces will not create performance bottlenecks in systems. NEC Electronics’ PCI Express ASSPs are compliant with revision 1.0a of the PCI Express base specification.

The NEC Electronics PCI Express to PCI-X bridge ASSP will allow customers to use the PCI Express and PCI-X or PCI™ standard in new product designs. The ASSP integrates a physical layer (PHY) for all PCI Express ports. The chip’s upstream port features one x8 lane (also capable of operating in x4, x2 and x1 modes). The ASSP’s downstream ports support two PCI-X bus segments and operate in both 133 megahertz (MHz) PCI-X and 64 MHz 64-bit PCI modes.

The PCI Express switch from NEC Electronics gives customers the ability to fan out more PCI Express ports in their designs. The switch ASSP includes integrated PHYs, two x8 lanes (capable of operating in x8, x4, x2 and x1 modes) for upstream ports and four x4 lanes (capable of operating in x4, x2 and x1 modes) for downstream ports.

Availability
Engineering samples of the PCI Express bridge and switch ASSPs are scheduled for availability in the first quarter of 2004. Mass production of both products is scheduled for second quarter 2004.

About NEC Electronics (Europe) GmbH
NEC Electronics (Europe) GmbH, headquartered in Duesseldorf, Germany, is a leading developer, manufacturer and supplier of semiconductor products in Europe. Committed to meeting customers' cost, performance and time-to-market requirements, the company offers solutions ranging from standard products to system-on-a-chip (SoC) solutions, as well as customized products for next-generation designs. NEC Electronics also offers customers the benefit of state-of-the-art manufacturing locally in Europe, besides the global production of its parent company, NEC Electronics Corporation. Additionally, NEC Electronics (Europe) GmbH is the exclusive European sales and marketing channel of LCD and PDP modules from NEC LCD Technologies Ltd. For more information visit http://www.ee.nec.de.

About NEC Electronics Corporation
NEC Electronics (TSE: 6723) worldwide 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 platform solutions for a wide range of customer applications. NEC Electronics Corporation has 24 subsidiaries worldwide including NEC Electronics America, Inc. (www.necelam.com) and NEC Electronics (Europe) GmbH (www.ee.nec.de). In addition to marketing, selling and supporting NEC Electronics products to customers in their respective regions, NEC Electronics America and NEC Electronics Europe also operate local manufacturing facilities in Roseville, California, and Ballivor, Ireland, respectively. Additionally, NEC Electronics America for North America and NEC Electronics Europe for Europe are the sales and marketing channels of NEC AM-LCD and PDP modules. For additional information about NEC Electronics worldwide, visit www.necel.com.

NEC Electronics is either a registered trademark or trademark of NEC Electronics Corporation in the United States and/or other countries.  PCI Express, PCI-X and PCI are trademarks of the PCI-SIG.  All other registered trademarks or trademarks are property of their respective owners.