Freescale Takes Lead in Embedded Processor Market

AUSTIN, Texas--April 14, 2005--Freescale Semiconductor strengthened its leadership position in the growing embedded processor market in 2004, according to Gartner Dataquest's recently released Semiconductor Applications Worldwide Annual Market Share - Database. Freescale seized the No. 1 position with 28.2 percent market share driven by growth in its 32-bit PowerQUICC(TM) and ColdFire(TM) processor families.

The PowerQUICC family is the industry's most widely used integrated communications processor architecture. The ColdFire processor family is finding success in markets that require control, connectivity and security in an integrated, cost-effective solution.

Freescale remained No. 2 in microcontrollers overall and No. 1 in microcontrollers for automotive applications (Gartner Dataquest). The company also regained the No. 2 spot in digital signal processors and experienced remarkable growth in the cell phone market, with a 59 percent increase in overall DSP shipments in 2004, according to a report from Forward Concepts.

"As the center of innovation shifts away from the PC, Freescale is well-positioned to take advantage of opportunities in the embedded space," said Sumit Sadana, Freescale senior vice president of strategy and business development. "We understand the unique design, quality and power requirements of these applications, whether in a network, car or cell phone, and deliver differentiated solutions to our customers."

Automotive Leadership

In addition to retaining the overall top spot in automotive microcontrollers, Freescale regained the No.1 ranking in 16-bit automotive MCUs (Gartner Dataquest). The company also remained No.1 in 8- and 32-bit automotive MCUs (Gartner Dataquest). Freescale is the leading provider of semiconductors to the global automotive market. The company's automotive products are used in many of today's safety, infotainment, telematics, powertrain, body electronics and comfort control applications.

DSP Strength

According to a recent DSP/wireless market bulletin by Will Strauss of Forward Concepts, Freescale ranks No. 2 in the programmable DSP market. Freescale's DSP products based on StarCore(TM) technology are widely used in mobile phones, 2.5G and 3G wireless infrastructure and voice over IP (VoIP) equipment. The market for DSPs is expected to grow about 10 percent in 2005 (Forward Concepts). Strauss forecasts the UMTS/WCDMA chip market growing at a compound rate of 25 percent through 2006 as many subscribers upgrade to the newer technology.

The Gartner Dataquest data comes from Semiconductor Applications Worldwide Annual Market Share - Database, ID Number: G00120720, March 22, 2005.

About Freescale Semiconductor

Freescale Semiconductor, Inc. is a global leader in the design and manufacture of embedded semiconductors for the automotive, consumer, industrial, networking and wireless markets. Freescale became a publicly traded company in July 2004 after more than 50 years as part of Motorola, Inc. The company is based in Austin, Texas, and has design, research and development, manufacturing or sales operations in more than 30 countries. Freescale, a member of the S&P 500(R), is one of the world's largest semiconductor companies with 2004 sales of $5.7 billion. www.freescale.com

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