Asian Semiconductor

“Intel Capital’s investment in UQ Communications is one of our most significant commitments in developing the WiMAX ecosystem around the globe,” said Arvind Sodhani, president of Intel Capital and Intel executive vice president. “UQ’s WiMAX deployment in Japan is a spectacular example of technology innovation being put to work.” 

“UQ Communications values Intel Capital’s investment to help expand our WiMAX service in Japan,” said Takashi Tanaka, CEO of UQ Communications. “We look forward to further collaboration with Intel and Intel Capital.” 

Intel has played a large role in the proliferation of the WiMAX global standard. The company has worked closely with computing and communications manufacturers to embed WiMAX-enabled chipsets in devices, and has made significant capital investments worldwide to help service providers build and deploy networks as well as address spectrum and regulatory needs. To date, nearly 460 WiMAX networks have been deployed in 135 countries. 

UQ Communications recently launched trial service of its UQ WiMAX in Tokyo’s 23 wards, Yokohama and Kawasaki, and the Haneda Airport (Tokyo International Airport). UQ Communications will formally launch UQ WiMAX service on July 1. 

Intel, the world’s largest chip maker, is also a leading manufacturer of computer, networking and communications products. Additional information about Intel is available at www.intel.com/pressroom. 

About Intel Capital 

Intel Capital, Intel’s global investment organization, makes equity investments in innovative technology start-ups and companies worldwide. Intel Capital invests in a broad range of companies offering hardware, software, and services targeting enterprise, home, mobility, health, consumer Internet, semiconductor manufacturing and cleantech. Since 1991, Intel Capital has invested more than US$9 billion in over 1,000 companies in 46 countries. In that timeframe, 174 portfolio companies have gone public on various exchanges around the world and 231 were acquired or participated in a merger. In 2008, Intel Capital invested about US$1.59 billion in 169 investments with approximately 62 percent of funds (excluding Clearwire) invested outside North America. For more information on Intel Capital and its differentiated advantages, visit www.intelcapital.com. 

Intel is a trademark of Intel Corporation in the United States and other countries. 

* Other names and brands may be claimed as the property of others.

Solid-State Disk (SSD) has been widely applied in military and industry products. With the beginning of adoption by PC, SSD soon expanded its applications to various consumer electronics. Although the lower acceptance in low-price PC and boosting NAND Flash price since 2008 has slowed its growing momentum, SSD is still perceived as a potential product.Says DRAMeXchange. 

Many vendors introduced new SSD products aggressively at Taipei Computex 2009. Kingston has launched Now M and SSD Now E SSD series for commercial PC and servers. The characteristics are their effective read/write and I/O performance. The write speed for Now M series is 170MB/s and 70 MB/s for series NOW E along with 200 million and 120 million MTBF rates respectively. Now V series SSD is mainly applied in desktop and notebook, which will be shipped in June. Both SSD series apply same MSRP that 64GB content product is about $148 (NTD$4,800) and $264 (NTD$8,600) for 128GB contents. 

San Disk also claims that hard disk stability of their new generation pSSD P2 and pSSD S2 is up to 9000vRPM and embedded nCache technology can improve the hard disk effectiveness by providing up to 320MB SRAM and supporting the writing function to achieve the system performance. Also, nCache technology can secure data’s safety under the power cut. 

Other Taiwanese module houses, such like PQI, also introduced series of SSD products to the market. Based on different market demand, PQI introduced series of SSD products with different interface, high read/write speed and high compatibility such as external SSD S530&520, embedded SSD S525&518, high efficient SSD 527&S528, server-oriented SSD X-25M and SSD 521 for PATA interface upgrade market. According to DRAMeXchange. 

The newly established Solid State Drive Alliance (SSDA) also joined Computex 2009 to demonstrate its progress in new technology product and future development. The exhibition for SSD products will be divided into two parts which include products for certification and products from member companies. Companies such as A-data, Jmicron, MemoCom, Memoright and Silicon Motion also demonstrated their products which have successfully passed the 1.4 version certification.

The NAND Flash vendors will continue to control output in order to keep driving the chip price up to surpass its chip cost after the effect of quarter-end inventory lowering in March is gone. Since the major process technology portion of the 16 Gb MLC production is migrating from 5x nm to 4x nm in 1H09, NAND Flash vendors also hope the future contract price can gradually increase and eventually surpass US$ 3.5. It is expected that the 16 Gb MLC price can remain at the current level in the short run with better spot market atmosphere and the adjustment of product mix strategy in 2Q09. 

NAND Flash vendors plan to increase their system client shipment portions of high density chips in 2Q09 in order to meet the possible shipment plans of the NAND Flash end application clients in the beginning of 3Q09. Therefore, according to DRAMeXchange, memory card and UFD client shipment portions will decrease and this may provide support to the price of mid to low density chips 

With the rising cost of NAND Flash, down stream clients must gradually increase their end product prices to reflect the uptrend of their average inventory cost. Hence the memory card price could also gradually increase with the rising cost of NAND Flash in the past two months, but the 1Q09 total market demand is still insipid. The downstream clients still hope the NAND Flash makers can increase the price gradually so that the price can be adjusted smoothly from upstream to downstream, buffing the negative effect of slowing content per system growth, and create a win-win result for both upstream and downstream makers.

Since the launch of the new company in February, Samsung Digital Imaging has been focusing on developing high-performance camera products that feature enhanced functions and are easy to use, based on extensive consumer analysis and market segmentation strategies. Thanks to these efforts, the company has proudly unveiled 13 new products. 

The new devices offer innovative features and exceptional functionality aimed at further boosting user convenience. Among the lineup, the WB500 and ST50 devices have already received the 2009 Innovation Award at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES). Owing to their outstanding design and performance, the WB500 and ST50 garnered great attention during CES 2009 in January and photo imaging exhibition PMA 2009 in March. They have already been well received in several markets, and are available at Best Buy in the U.S. and through specialty camera retailers in Europe. 

With world-first features and innovative functions, the lineup offers a unique user experience only available from Samsung cameras. Notable functions across the lineup include the ultra-wide-angle 24mm lens and 10x optical zoom (WB550/WB500); a 3-inch AMOLED screen (WB1000); Smart Auto technology that has 11 optimized picture pre-settings such as Night, Snow, and Self Portrait; a Full Manual Mode (WB1000) that enables the user to configure settings such as shutter speed, aperture, and exposure; a touch screen with haptic feedback (ST10); and Smart Face Detection (ST10/PL10) that remembers the faces of people whose pictures are frequently taken. 

The Samsung Digital Imaging lineup also features innovation in design. The VLUU ST50 offers a 16.6mm ultra-slim and stylish design with a metallic exterior, while the VLUU WB1000, includes a large, clear 3-inch AMOLED screen, convenient, wheel-shaped smart control dials and classic mini dashboards that show the remaining battery life and memory capacity. 

Another strength of the new lineup is the compatibility with other Samsung devices including TVs, printers and PCs, so users can enjoy easy and reliable connectivity. Samsung will also offer cameras packaged with notebook computers, digital picture frames, MP3 players and external hard disks. 

“The product philosophy of Samsung Digital Imaging is to create digital camera products that enable users of all types to easily and conveniently take good pictures,” said SangJin Park, Chief Executive Officer of Samsung Digital Imaging. “The camera industry is experiencing difficulties because of the global economic downturn, however, we will turn this crisis into an opportunity and transform Samsung Digital Imaging into a leading digital camera maker based on our technology, expertise and speediness as an independent company.” 

Samsung Digital Imaging established a sales structure based on the global sales network of Samsung Electronics last year. It has drawn up plans to increase its global market share to 12.5% through its premium compact digital camera lineup. 

About Samsung Digital Imaging 

Samsung Digital Imaging Co. Ltd. is a leader in photo imaging technology, digital cameras and optical devices. The company offers a range of high-performance 

digital compact and DSLR cameras, introducing cutting-edge features to meet consumer needs. Samsung began developing film cameras in 1979 and has led the 

growth of the digital imaging market through its advanced technology and innovation. For more information, please visit www.samsungcamera.com. 

About Samsung Electronics 

Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. is a global leader in semiconductor, telecommunication, digital media and digital convergence technologies with 2007 consolidated sales of US$105 billion. Employing approximately 150,000 people in 134 offices in 62 countries, the company consists of two main business units: Digital Media & Communications and Device Solutions. Recognized as one of the fastest growing global brands, Samsung Electronics is a leading producer of digital TVs, memory chips, mobile phones and TFT-LCDs. For more information, please visit www.samsung.com.