Motorola and Elmos Semiconductor AG Join
Forces to Drive Standard Architectures for the Automotive
Market
Partnership Enables Long-Term Assured Supply of Quality Products And
Development Tools for Major Automotive Product Families Anticipated
AUSTIN, Texas, March 6 Motorola, the leading supplier of
semiconductors to the automotive industry, and Elmos Semiconductor AG, a
leading manufacturer of application-specific integrated circuits for
automotive electronics, today announced a long-term partnership to jointly
drive innovative architectures for the automotive market. This strategically
important partnership is intended to allow customers to leverage long-term,
assured supply and timely availability of world-class products and development
tools on compatible semiconductor processes for automotive applications.
The two companies are joining forces to provide automotive customers more
advanced microcontroller choices with an emphasis on broader peripheral sets,
price competitive solutions and fast a time to market. The alliance is
expected to offer car manufacturers comprehensive solutions for 8-, 16-bit
microcontrollers and DSPs, supporting a wide variety of applications. The
partnership is intended to combine Motorola's leading-edge microcontroller
cores and powerful subsystems, with Elmos' expertise in fast, flexible designs
of standard and high voltage peripherals. It is anticipated that multiple
sources for these powerful standard microcontrollers will be enabled through
Motorola's stable, high-volume production capabilities and Elmos' flexible
production capabilities, providing customers with the partners of choice in
the automotive market.
"Advanced automotive systems including mechatronic design trends are
demanding even greater levels of functional integration and performance.
Hence the partnership of Motorola and Elmos, two leading semiconductor
suppliers with complimentary strengths within automotive, is a perfect
response to customer requirements," according to Chris Webber, VP automotive
electronics & telematics practice, Strategy Analytics. "Elmos' decision to
work with Motorola's 68HC12 microcontroller family reflects the 16-bit core's
dominant position particularly within the automotive body control market."
As emerging applications drive demand for products with enhanced feature
sets, Motorola and Elmos expect to serve the automotive market with the
creation of world-class products, based on Motorola's 8-, 16-bit and DSP
product lines. Addressing the sub-32K memory space, Motorola's 8-bit HC08
family' suggested pricing is expected to allow optimum product choice for
emerging and low functionality applications, such as remote keyless entry.
Combining embedded Flash and EEPROM with on-board networking capabilities, the
16-bit HC12 product line is expected to continue to be the platform of choice
for the mid-range networked applications, which include doors, seats, window
lifts, HVAC, sun roofs and lighting, etc. In addition Motorola is redefining
architecture by combining microcontroller and DSP functionality, enabling the
Motorola-Elmos alliance to more quickly deliver programmable automotive
solutions for electronic power steering (EPS), adaptive cruise control and new
drive by wire applications.
"Elmos and Motorola are committed to providing the industry fast design
cycle times and long term supply capabilities," states Dr. Peter Thoma, Vice
President and General Manager Automotive, Elmos. "The automotive
microelectronics industry can expect to benefit from one overall systems
knowledge base, operating system, tool set and supply chain. Jointly we
expect to be able to offer fast, flexible design-ins and full life-time
service of the product."
"Motorola is building effective alliances to anticipate the evolving needs
of the automotive industry and to bring future technologies to market faster.
The Motorola and Elmos partnership verifies Motorola's position as the partner
of choice, allowing us to serve the industry even more effectively," states
Juergen Weyer, Vice President and General Manager, Motorola.
About Motorola
As the world's number-one producer of embedded processors, Motorola's
Semiconductor Products Sector offers multiple DigitalDNA(TM) technologies,
which enable its customers to create "smart" products and new business
opportunities in the networking and computing, wireless communications,
transportation, and home networking markets. Motorola's worldwide
semiconductor sales were $7.9 billion (USD) in 2000.
http://www.motorola.com/semiconductors
Motorola, Inc. is a global leader in providing integrated
communications and embedded electronic solutions. Sales in 2000 were
$37.6 billion. http://www.motorola.com
About ELMOS
ELMOS Semiconductor AG is a leading manufacturer of customer-specific
integrated circuits located in Germany. ELMOS has strong development teams of
almost 100 engineers with broad experience in automotive electronics.
Specific to ELMOS is a unique High-Voltage CMOS technology that directly
interfaces the car environment. The company is therefore specialized on
Mixed-Signal and Smart-Power devices mainly for the automotive business (85%).
The company's production line is based on a new 6-inch waferfab. Within the
last years, ELMOS has realized a CAGR > 25% and net sales of 169 Mio DM in
1999 and more than 207 Mio DM in 2000. In 1999, ELMOS went public on the
Neuer Markt in Germany. http://www.elmos.de
MOTOROLA, the Stylized M Logo and all other trademarks indicated as such
herein are trademarks of Motorola, Inc. (r) Reg. U.S. Pat. & Tm. Off. All
other product or service names are the property of their respective owners.
For further information, please contact Starlyn Aurit, 512-895-2085, fax,
512-895-4614, starlyn.aurit@motorola.com, or Ruth Hendrix, 512-895-3451, fax,
512-895-4441, ruth.hendrix@motorola.com, both of Motorola, Inc.; or Tabitha
Bailey, 805-241-4894, fax, 805-241-2534, tabitha@funkypuppypr.com, or Audrey
Armstrong, 408-354-9053, fax, 408-395-8063, audrey@funkypuppypr.com, both of
Funky Puppy Inc., for Motorola, Inc.; or in Europe, Regina Cirmonova of
Motorola, Inc., +41-22-799-1258, r48996@email.sps.mot.com; or in Japan, Koichi
Yoshimura of Motorola Japan Ltd., +81-3-3280-8672, fax, +81-3-3440-0338,
rty490@email.sps.mot.com, or in Hong Kong, Gloria Shiu of Motorola
Semiconductors, +852-2666-8237, fax, +852-2666-5709, r42970@email.sps.mot.com;
or in Germany, Dr. Eng. Juerg Gondermann of ELMOS Semiconductor AG,
0231-75-49-217, fax, 0231-75-49-111, jgondermann@elmos.de.
