AIROHA TECHOLOGY CORP. ANNOUNCES AL2230, FIRST WLAN 802.11b/g TRANSCEIVER WITH EMBEDDED POWER AMPLIFIER AND POWER DETECTOR

Airoha’s Single Chip Solution Leverages Jazz Semiconductor’s SiGe Technology


HSINCHU, Taiwan and NEWPORT BEACH, Calif., Feb. 23, 2004 -- Airoha Technology Corp., a wireless communication design company that develops radio frequency (RF) and mixed signal integrated circuits (ICs), today announced the AL2230, the industry’s first WLAN 802.11b/g single chip Radio Frequency Integrated Circuit (RFIC) with an embedded power amplifier (PA) and power detector (PD). Developed for 802.11b/g dual mode applications, Airoha utilized Jazz Semiconductor’s specialty silicon germanium (SiGe) BiCMOS manufacturing process technology to design the AL2230 and meet its aggressive performance targets.

The Airlink AL2230 single chip transceiver is capable of meeting the demanding performance and power consumption requirements of the dual mode 802.11b/g standard for wireless applications. Using the optimized SiGe process and design platform from Jazz Semiconductor, Airoha achieved a highly integrated design which includes the PA, voltage controlled oscillator (VCO), low noise amplifier (LNA), balun and loop filters. The embedded PA can deliver 17 or 21 dBm Output Power (Pout) in OFDM or CCK mode.

The AL2230 features its patent pending "auto I/Q imbalance calibration" mechanism, which enables the AL2230 to calibrate the I/Q imbalance quickly and automatically, minimizing the time required for an otherwise manual process.

"We utilized Jazz Semiconductor’s processes, design kits and customer services in our AL2210 and continue to work with Jazz to integrate their SiGe technology into our next generation single chip solutions including the AL2230," said Michael Lu, Airoha president. "We look forward to continuing this successful relationship and will continue to leverage Jazz’s wafer manufacturing to offer competitive cost solutions to our customers."

"We seek to provide high performance analog and RF silicon technology and a comprehensive design platform to enable the leadership position of our customers in the market place," said Paul Kempf, Jazz Semiconductor chief marketing and technology officer. "We look forward to supporting the future projects of this world class design team to advance the integration and performance of wireless solutions."

With a low off-chip component count, the Airlink AL2230 has the potential to achieve a low bill of materials (BOM) cost and among the smallest printed circuit board (PCB) area in the world. Airoha is working with several leading 802.11b/g baseband vendors to provide cost effective reference boards with diverse host interfaces (such as USB, mini-PCI, CardBus, PCI, etc.). Reference boards are expected to debut in the first quarter of 2004.

Airoha and Jazz Semiconductor also collaborated to develop the highly integrated 802.11b wireless transceiver solution, the AL2210. The single chip transceiver was introduced in August of 2003.




About Airoha Airoha Technology Corp. is a Taiwan based fabless company that develops highly integrated circuits for wireless communication solutions. Spun-off from BenQ in August 2001, Airoha has the advantage of a built-in customer base, enjoying strong market leadership positions in PC, data communication, cellular, handheld device and WLAN applications. The company is committed to providing high performance, cost-effective and highly integrated RF/mixed signal integrated circuit (IC) solutions, including system level expertise in global system mobile (GSM) and WLAN communications. Product applications include telecommunications and data communications. By integrating proprietary technology processes, the company provides customers with cost effective and high performance solutions. Airoha partners with foundries that are leading radio-frequency semiconductor manufacturers to ensure the best quality products. To learn more about Airoha, please visit www.airoha.com.


About Jazz Semiconductor Jazz Semiconductor is an independent semiconductor wafer foundry that specializes in mixed-signal and radio frequency (RF) technologies for use in wireless communications, optical networking, power management and other ultra-high performance applications. The company, based in Newport Beach, California, was founded in March of 2002 as a privately held company with the Carlyle Group as the majority shareholder. Jazz expands on the offerings of a traditional pure play foundry by focusing on mixed signal and RF technology processes, design platforms, and experienced engineering support. To learn more, visit www.jazzsemi.com.


Airoha Contact
Enrique Lee
+886-3-612-8188 ext.2818
EnriqueLee@AIROHA.com.tw


Jazz Contact
Paul Kempf
Cheif Marketing and Technology Officer
(949) 435-8194
paul.kempf@jazzsemi.com

Jazz Media Contact
Kerry Fedro
(949) 453-8080
kerry@lages.com