Micronas Establishes R&D Center in China (0513)
Shanghai operation to actively accompany the transition phase to digital TV
Freiburg, Germany, and Shanghai, China, June 10, 2005 - Micronas (SWX Swiss Exchange: MASN, Frankfurt: MNSN, Prime Standard Segment, TecDAX), a leading supplier of innovative application-specific IC system solutions for consumer and automotive electronics, today announced the opening of Micronas Semiconductor R&D (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., a wholly-owned subsidiary.
A fully-fledged extension of Micronas' international engineering operations, this R&D center right in the heart of one of China's main semiconductor industry areas will allow Micronas to react much faster to local market demands, to assist Chinese companies in designing state-of-the art digital consumer and TV devices and to provide on-the-spot technical expertise to customers throughout the region.
Combining Micronas' extensive consumer electronics know-how and state-of-the-art IC design expertise along with local engineering talent, the center will focus on locally optimized digital TV solutions. Demand for such applications in TVs, STBs and PCs and even totally new solutions (e.g. mobile TV in cars, trains, or taxis) is expected to emerge as a result of the digitization of the Chinese terrestrial TV broadcasting system, likely to happen over the next few years. According to officials, HD quality transmission of the Beijing Olympics in 2008 is planned and terrestrial analog TV broadcast is to cease nationwide by 2015.
Dr. Wayne Li, who has been appointed as General Manager of Micronas Shanghai, has studied and worked at Tsinghua University in Beijing for 9 years before going to the US to get his PhD degree. He has over 10 years of international experience in the consumer electronics and semiconductor industry. Dr. Li indicates that in addition to developing optimized digital TV solutions, Micronas Shanghai intends to closely cooperate with leading Chinese universities and to build long term relationships with local suppliers to optimally benefit from the upcoming China DTV market opportunities. "Shanghai is the location of choice to attract well educated, local engineering talent and our young and energetic team is eager to develop innovative solutions for our customers in China," says Dr. Li.
"Establishing the R&D center in Shanghai is a milestone, a logical implementation of Micronas' strategic concept of staying in close proximity to the customers and markets," says Dr. Peter Weigand, Chairman of Micronas Shanghai, "China is a boom region with an unequaled rate of economic growth, offering high economic potential and excellent market opportunities and Shanghai is one of the core regions to fuel these dynamics. Our latest R&D center highlights the strategic positioning of Micronas as a leading supplier of global system solutions for consumer applications."