Philips and Samsung Launch a New Application Programming Interface for the Consumer Electronics Industry

The Universal Home Application Programming Interface will result in greater interoperability and faster introduction of new consumer electronics products

Amsterdam, The Netherlands and Seoul, South Korea – January 6, 2004 - Royal Philips Electronics (NYSE: PHG, AEX: PHI) and Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd.(LSE(GDR): SSNHY, KSE: 05930.KS) today announced the launch of the Universal Home Application Programming Interface (UH-API) initiative. This creates a new application programming interface standard that will allow independent software vendors (ISVs), system integrators and device vendors to create middleware and application software on top of semiconductor-based systems.

Together, the semiconductors units of Philips and Samsung, will establish, maintain and promote the UH-API initiative. Philips and Samsung plan to extend the invitation to other companies to participate in enhancing and deploying the UH-API specification throughout the consumer electronics industry in every new product that comes to market.

Both companies will realign their internal resources to develop UH-API-compliant semiconductor chipsets and solutions. Philips’ Nexperia Home semiconductor system solutions will be UH-API-compliant and Samsung will initially introduce the new standard to its HD TV chipsets and expand to other applications. Drafts of UH-API are expected to be available in the first quarter of 2004.

Industry cooperation related to this stable, hardware-independent API will lead to greater interoperability of consumer electronics products, systems and software applications. It will also result in faster time-to-market for new features and products for the home.

“The creation of the Universal Home API standard is an essential step to continue innovation in today’s world of increasingly complex electronic products and systems, and our announcement with Samsung Electronics is an important catalyst for change in the industry,” said Leon Husson, executive vice president of Consumer Businesses, Philips Semiconductors. “This is a fundamental change from developing standalone consumer electronics products that fit proprietary schemes to a universal choice of hardware systems that can support the multiple features of the diverse consumer electronic brands.”

“We are pleased to make this announcement with Philips. The Universal Home API initiative is expected to streamline the product development process from the hardware level upwards,” said Dr. Hyung-Lae Roh, executive vice president of SOC R&D Center, Samsung Electronics. “And thus present the consumer electronics industry with an opportunity to make a real difference to reduce the time it takes to deliver a greater variety of new products, features and services to the market.”

Consumer electronics products require steadily increasing amounts of software content to support advanced functions and features. There is an urgent need for a stable, hardware-independent API to quickly bridge the middleware and application software from ISVs to semiconductor system solutions from the chip manufacturers. The objective of the
UH-API is to serve as that bridge between ISVs and semiconductor companies. As a result, ISVs can focus their energy on developing new innovating functions & features rather than dealing with the complex task of writing to unique hardware requirements for every consumer semiconductor product being developed. This will result in quicker delivery of the hardware, software and support required by highly competitive consumer electronics companies.

The UH-API consists of a set of software interfaces for configuring and controlling the audio and video-related components of a semiconductor platform targeting the consumer market, and it is complementary with the leading operating systems across the industry. The UH-API is designed for semiconductor platforms addressing a wide range of target devices including analog and digital televisions, Set Top Boxes, DVD players and recorders, personal video recorders, home servers and other consumer audio-video devices

About Royal Philips Electronics
Royal Philips Electronics of the Netherlands is one of the world's biggest electronics companies and Europe's largest, with sales of EUR 31.8 billion in 2002. It is a global leader in color television sets, lighting, electric shavers, medical diagnostic imaging and patient monitoring, and one-chip TV products. Its 166,500 employees in more than 60 countries are active in the areas of lighting, consumer electronics, domestic appliances, semiconductors, and medical systems. Philips is quoted on the NYSE (symbol: PHG), Frankfurt, Amsterdam and other stock exchanges. News from Philips is located at www.semiconductors.philips.com.

About Samsung Electronics
Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. is a global leader in semiconductor, telecommunication, and digital convergence technology. Samsung Electronics employs approximately 75,000 people in 89 offices in 47 countries and business performance for 2002 record $49.6 billion in sales and $5.9 billion in net income. Samsung Electronics is one of the world’s leading providers of advanced semiconductors, TFT-LCDs, CDMA mobile phones, monitors and VCRs. Samsung Electronics consists of four main business units: Device Solution Network, Digital Media Network, Telecommunication Network and Digital Appliance Network Businesses.

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Nexperia is a trademark of Royal Philips Electronics.