Silicon Storage Technology strengthens its embedded flash business with acquisition of Emosyn
Acquisition Offers Emosyn Advanced Embedded Flash Technology and Increased Access to Foundry Capacity
SUNNYVALE, Calif., September 13, 2004 -- SST (Silicon Storage Technology, Inc., NASDAQ: SSTI), a leader in flash memory technology, today announced it has acquired a majority ownership of privately held Emosyn LLC, a fabless semiconductor manufacturer specializing in the design and marketing of smart card ICs for SIM (subscriber identification module) card applications. Under the terms of the agreement valued at approximately $19 million, SST, through its subsidiary SST International, will acquire 83.6 percent of Emosyn's assets, while ATMI, Inc. (NASDAQ: ATMI), Emosyn's former parent company, will retain 16.4 percent ownership of the company. The transaction closed on September 10, 2004.
Emosyn's approximately 40 employees, headed by president Nicholas Wood, will form a subsidiary of SST and will continue to operate as a separate entity, designing and developing leading-edge ICs based on SST's SuperFlash technology for the burgeoning smart card market. The subsidiary, incorporated in the Cayman Islands, will continue to have an R&D center in Silicon Valley, and marketing and application offices in the United Kingdom and Singapore.
"We are thrilled to partner with ATMI in Emosyn, one of our long-time licensing partners," said Bing Yeh, SST's president and chief executive officer. "We believe this acquisition will help Emosyn leverage SST's many foundry relationships and manufacturing operation infrastructure in order to meet the rising demand for its products, as well as allow SST to establish SuperFlash technology as the technology-of-choice in the strategically important smart card market."
"We have been working with SST's technology for more than five years and we are very excited about this acquisition and the opportunity it brings to grow our business leveraging SST's volume manufacturing and customer service experience," said Nicholas Wood, president of Emosyn. "Emosyn's goal is to become the number one solutions provider to the smart card market, and SST has the right resources and relevant experience to help us succeed. We expect to realize a number of benefits to our business including our wafer procurement, IT and back-end operations by integrating them with SST's sophisticated, state-of-the-art infrastructure."
About Emosyn
Emosyn is a fabless semiconductor manufacturer of integrated circuits that provide a high level of security for personal and portable information, such as cell phones, National ID card schemes and bank cards. The company's Theseus Platinum„· product line is focused on secure transactions, with products aimed at the smart card market. With a design center in Silicon Valley, California and sales and marketing offices in Europe, Asia and the United States, Emosyn has a worldwide presence. For further information, please visit www.emosyn.com.
About SuperFlash Technology
SST's SuperFlash technology is a NOR type, split-gate cell architecture which uses a reliable thick-oxide process with fewer manufacturing steps resulting in a low-cost, nonvolatile memory solution with excellent data retention and higher reliability. The split-gate NOR SuperFlash architecture facilitates a simple and flexible design suitable for high performance, high reliability, small or medium sector size, in- or off-system programming and a variety of densities, all in a single CMOS-compatible technology.
About Silicon Storage Technology, Inc.
Headquartered in Sunnyvale, California, SST designs, manufactures and markets a diversified range of nonvolatile memory solutions, based on proprietary, patented SuperFlash technology, for high volume applications in the digital consumer, networking, wireless communications and Internet computing markets. SST's product families include various densities of high functionality flash memory components, flash mass storage products and flash microcontrollers. SST also offers its SuperFlash technology for embedded applications through its world-class manufacturing partners and technology licensees including 1st Silicon (Malaysia) Sdn. Bhd., Grace Semiconductor Manufacturing Corporation (Grace), IBM, Motorola, Inc., National Semiconductor Corporation, NEC Corporation, Oki Electric Industry Co. Ltd., Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd., SANYO Electric Co., Ltd., Seiko Epson Corp., Shanghai Hua Hong NEC Electronics Co., Ltd., Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. Ltd. (TSMC), Toshiba Corporation, Vanguard International Semiconductor Corporation, and Winbond Electronics Corp. TSMC offers embedded SuperFlash under its trademark Emb-FLASH. Further information on SST can be found on the company's Web site at http://www.sst.com.
Forward-Looking Statements
Except for the historical information contained herein, this news release contains forward-looking statements regarding flash memory market conditions, the company's future
financial performance, the performance of new products and the company's ability to bring new products to market that involve risks and uncertainties. These risks may include timely
development, acceptance and pricing of new products, the terms and conditions associated with licensees royalty payments, the impact of competitive products and pricing, and general economic conditions as they affect the company's customers, as well as other risks detailed from time to time in the company's SEC reports, including the Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2003 and on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended March 31, and June 30, 2004.
For more information about SST and the company's comprehensive list of product offerings, please call 1-888/SST-CHIP. Information can also be requested via email to literature@sst.com or through SST's Web site at http://www.sst.com. SST's head office is located at 1171 Sonora Court, Sunnyvale, Calif.; telephone: 408/735-9110; fax: 408/735-9036.
The SST logo and SuperFlash are registered trademarks of Silicon Storage Technology, Inc. Emb-FLASH is a trademark of TSMC. All other trademarks or registered trademarks are the property of their respective holders.
