Trident Microsystems and NXP to Combine Digital TV and Set-Top Box Businesses to Create Industry Leader in the Digital Home Market

SANTA CLARA, Calif. and EINDHOVEN, The Netherlands -- Oct. 5, 2009 -- Trident Microsystems, Inc. (Nasdaq: TRID - News) and NXP Semiconductors today announced that they have signed a definitive agreement whereby Trident will acquire NXP's television systems and set-top box business lines. Trident would remain fabless with a significant presence in Asia and as a result of the transaction would have a global leadership position in the digital home entertainment market. Under the terms of the transaction, NXP will receive newly issued shares of Trident common stock equal to 60% of the total shares outstanding post-closing, including approximately 6.7 million shares that NXP will purchase at a price of $4.50 per share, resulting in cash proceeds to Trident of $30 million.

"As the fragmented consumer IC market continues to consolidate, the ability to leverage IP across multiple segments is becoming increasingly important due to the R&D investments necessary to deliver leading-edge innovation," said Sylvia Summers, President and CEO of Trident. "Through this transaction, Trident will become one of the leading global suppliers with the product portfolio, IP and operational infrastructure required to effectively serve the large, high-growth digital home entertainment market."

Including revenue from the acquired product lines, Trident would have estimated revenue of approximately $500 million in calendar 2009, with approximately 60% attributable to television and 40% to set-top box. Upon closing, Trident will have an extensive portfolio of consumer IP applicable to a range of markets, with over 2,000 granted and in-process patents including motion estimation/motion compensation and conditional access, as well as advanced 45nm SoC technology. The combined product portfolio will enable Trident to offer a broad range of semiconductor solutions to the digital home market, which Trident estimates will reach $5 billion by 2010.

"Success in the consumer business requires a company culture based on rapid decision making, a fast pace of innovation, and a highly competitive cost structure," stated Summers. "This proposed transaction enables Trident to achieve the economies of scale required to compete in the digital home market, while also taking advantage of our start-up culture and cost-efficient Asia-based engineering and operations. As a result, Trident will be well positioned to address a larger market, accelerate our time to breakeven and achieve our long-term financial objectives."

In order to drive cost-efficient innovation that is competitive with the industry's most aggressive consumer IC suppliers, Trident expects to retain a core set of technology centers of excellence in Europe and North America, while growing and leveraging the substantial engineering presence that each of NXP's Home business unit and Trident already has in Asia. Following the close of the transaction, Trident intends to continue supporting the existing customers and design wins of each company. In addition, Trident plans to develop a converged product roadmap, leveraging the substantial IP of both companies and cost structure of Trident to provide the competitive products required for the next generation of customer designs.

"We believe the consumer IC business is a large, high-growth opportunity, best served by a company dedicated to this market with a highly efficient operating infrastructure," said Rick Clemmer, President and CEO of NXP. "This proposed combination is the ideal structure to position the considerable technology and market assets of our digital TV and set-top box lines for growth and financial success. As the single largest shareholder in the expanded Trident, NXP can continue to take part in the significant upside opportunity for this business while achieving another major milestone in NXP's plans to focus and lead in high-performance mixed signal."

Reaffirming its long-term commitment to the digital home technology market, under the terms of the transaction, the primary shares being issued to NXP would be subject to a lock-up for two years.

Upon closing, Sylvia Summers will remain the CEO of Trident and Christos Lagomichos, EVP of NXP's Home business unit, will become President. Pete Mangan will remain senior vice president and chief financial officer of Trident. In addition, after closing, NXP and Trident intend to cooperate in the development of complementary end-to-end solutions in other selected high-growth technology areas, including NXP's car entertainment and silicon tuner product lines. Trident will be fabless and will have the ability to access state-of-the-art technology and manufacturing capacity from NXP's manufacturing facilities, as well as the partner foundries and subcontractors of both companies. As a result of the terms and conditions agreed between the parties, NXP will account for its investment in Trident under the equity method.

The Boards of Trident and NXP have unanimously approved the agreement and the transactions contemplated by the agreement. The transaction is subject to the approval of the stockholders of Trident, consultations with employee representatives in certain jurisdictions and other customary closing conditions, including regulatory approvals. The transaction is expected to close in the first calendar quarter of 2010.

Trident expects to generate $140 million to $160 million in revenue in the calendar quarter ending June 30, 2010, its first full quarter post-closing, and expects to break even on a non-GAAP operating basis as early as the end of calendar year 2010.

Trident Investor Conference Call Today at 8 AM Eastern Time

Trident management will host a conference call at 5:00 am Pacific Time today (8:00 am Eastern Time). The domestic dial in is 866-730-5769; the international dial-in is 857-350-1593. Passcode: 59258241. A replay of the conference call will be available for two weeks, beginning approximately two hours following the conference call and will be accessible by calling 888-286-8010 (domestic) or 617-801-6888 (international) using access code 26148685. This call is being webcast by Thomson/CCBN and can be accessed at Trident's web site at: http://www.tridentmicro.com/ . The webcast also is being distributed through the Thomson StreetEvents Network to both institutional and individual investors. Individual investors can listen to the call at www.fulldisclosure.com; institutional investors can access the call via Thomson's password-protected event management site, StreetEvents (www.streetevents.com).

About Trident Microsystems:

Trident Microsystems, Inc., with headquarters in Santa Clara, California, designs, develops and markets integrated circuits, or ICs, and associated software for digital media applications, such as digital televisions and LCD televisions. Trident's products are sold to a network of OEMs, original design manufacturers and system integrators worldwide. For further information about Trident and its products, please consult the Company's web site: http://www.tridentmicro.com.

About NXP Semiconductors:

NXP is a leading semiconductor company founded by Philips more than 50 years ago. Headquartered in Europe, the company has about 29,000 employees working in more than 30 countries and posted sales of USD 5.4 billion (including the Mobile & Personal business) in 2008. NXP creates semiconductors, system solutions and software that deliver better sensory experiences in TVs, set-top boxes, identification applications, mobile phones, cars and a wide range of other electronic devices. News from NXP is located at www.nxp.com.

Contact NXP Fill out this form for contacting a NXP representative. Your Name: Your E-mail address: Your Company address: Your Phone Number: Write your message: