AEI Tech Award 2002 Received; austriamicrosystems' Controller IC Nominated as 'Top Product of the Year' At the SAE World Congress

    DETROIT & SCHLOSS PREMSTAETTEN, Austria--April 3, 2002--Approximately 1,000 exhibitors have attended this year's SAE (Society of Automotive Engineers) Congress in Detroit, America's automotive capital, presenting more than 5,000 innovations.
    The most significant innovation came from Austria. The judges from Automotive Engineering International, SAE's official medium, nominated TimeTriggered Protocol ' as Top Product of the Year'. It has been developed by the semiconductor manufacturer austriamicrosystems in cooperation with the software company TTTech, and it enables low-cost realization of innovative 'drive-by-wire' concepts.
    At the heart of this joint development is the Controller Chip AS8202, which allows communication between the different vehicle systems within nanoseconds. Numerous sensors continuously transmit data (e.g. on road conditions) to all relevant systems via data busses. With this technological advantage, the automobile will respond to external changes (such as the beginning of a swerving movement) much faster and with greater accuracy than the driver.
    Leading automotive industry experts unanimously agree that time-triggered technologies such as austriamicrosystems' and TTTech's 'Time-Triggered Protocol' will soon replace today's widely used event-triggered electronic architectures. In their new concept studies, manufacturers such as Audi and the French PSA Group (Peugeot/Citroen) already rely on technology 'made in Austria'. Additionally, within two years, the world's leading carmakers will equip numerous premium models with 'drive-by-wire' components.

    austriamicrosystems AG, headquartered in Unterpremstatten near Graz, designs and manufactures microchips that are tailored to individual customer needs. The company is a worldwide leading manufacturer of customer-specific integrated circuits and currently operates in 14 locations worldwide, with 940 employees. In 2001, the company's sales rose 20 percent to EUR 147.5.

More company information can be found at www.austriamicrosystems.com.