IBM and Freescale Collaborate on Direction of Power Architecture(TM) Technology

SAN FRANCISCO--Feb. 6, 2006--Freescale Semiconductor Inc. :

-- Freescale joins Power.org as founding member, bringing leadership in microprocessors used in networking, automotive, industrial control and embedded platforms to the open community

Today at the International Solid-State Circuits Conference (ISSCC), IBM and Freescale Semiconductor announced a collaboration focused on the evolution of Power Architecture(TM) technology.

Freescale announced today that it has become a member of Power.org, a community of companies driving innovation around Power Architecture technology. Freescale has joined the open community as the platform to collaborate with IBM and other members on the microprocessor technology. These announcements bring the two companies together in driving the future of one of the most comprehensive processor architectures available today.

Specifically, IBM and Freescale intend to collaborate by:

-- Developing a common instruction set architecture

-- Developing innovations that extend Power Architecture processors into a broader set of customer implementations

-- Understanding each company's Power Processor roadmaps

-- Enabling Linux on the Power Architecture

-- Expanding the Power Architecture Ecosystem through marketing programs

The collaboration is designed to extend Power Architecture technology deeper into next-generation products in a broad range of segments addressed by the two companies including consumer electronics, industrial, automotive, enterprise systems, telecommunications and supercomputers.

"Power Architecture technology is at the forefront of the world's leading computing devices from Blue Gene, the world's most powerful supercomputer(1), to enterprise systems, automobiles and all of the leading video game platforms," said Dr. John E. Kelly III, senior vice president of Technology and Intellectual Property at IBM. "Power Architecture not only is extremely scalable and versatile -- it is extremely open. We look forward to collaboratively innovating with Freescale to extend Power Architecture technology's capabilities."

Freescale joins Power.org

Freescale announced today that it has joined the Power.org community, broadening the extensive Power Architecture ecosystem. Power.org comprises microprocessor manufacturers, application software developers, Linux operating system distributors, and design and development tools providers.

"Freescale and IBM are committed to the continued success of Power Architecture technology and to the expanding ecosystem of open tools, solutions and platforms within the Power.org community," said Michel Mayer, chairman and CEO of Freescale Semiconductor. "As allied leaders and founding members of Power.org, we have the technical and financial resources to drive the proliferation of Power Architecture microprocessor-based platforms throughout the consumer-driven, networked world."

Within Power.org, Freescale will join IBM in forming a Power Architecture Advisory Council (PAAC). The council will manage the architectural roadmap and alignment for Power Architecture technology, building new levels of extensibility and compatibility throughout the microprocessor developer community. The goal is to provide a seamless, compatible instruction set architecture designed to accommodate platforms scaling from low-cost, high-volume consumer electronics systems to high-performance enterprise and industrial applications.

"Freescale is a breakthrough addition to Power.org. Freescale's experience with Power Architecture technology complements that of existing members, and it has had a significant role in proliferating the architecture," said Joseph Byrne, senior analyst with The Linley Group. "With IBM and Freescale joining together again, this time with other stakeholders, Power Architecture technology maintains the advantage of having multiple chip suppliers. It also gains the benefit of managed evolution."

Power Architecture technology offers the broadest, most pervasive coverage of any microprocessor architecture. The architecture powers the three next-generation gaming console platforms. Power microprocessors are driving the world's highest performance supercomputers. Power Architecture technology is also a predominant platform for enterprise servers, automotive powertrain and telematics, wireless infrastructure, and enterprise routing and switching.

As the center of technology innovation shifts from the personal computer to intelligent, networked multimedia appliances, Power Architecture technology is poised to offer scalable, cost-effective and power-efficient platform solutions for the future of pervasive computing, communications and consumer electronics.

About Freescale

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. 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 2005 sales of $5.8 billion (US). www.freescale.com

About IBM

IBM is the world's largest information technology company, with 80 years of leadership in helping businesses innovate. Drawing on resources from across IBM and key Business Partners, IBM offers a wide range of services, solutions and technologies that enable customers, large and small, to take full advantage of the new era of e-business. For more information about IBM, visit www.ibm.com.

About Power.org

Power.org is a community of companies driving innovation around Power Architecture technology. Comprised of leaders in the technology field, Power.org is a framework through which its members engage in collaborative innovation on Power Architecture technology, with the mission of optimizing interoperability and accelerating innovation to drive increased adoption of Power Architecture technology around the world. Power.org currently has over 40 members, including Cadence Design Systems, Chartered Semiconductor Manufacturing, Freescale Semiconductor, IBM, Jabil Circuit, Novell, P.A. Semi, Red Hat, Synopsys, and Thales Computers. For more details on Power.org visit the website www.power.org.

Freescale(TM) and the Freescale logo are trademarks of Freescale Semiconductor, Inc. IBM and Power Architecture are trademarks of International Business Machines Corporation in the United States, other countries, or both. All other product or service names are the property of their respective owners.

(1) According to TOP500 list of supercomputers, November 2005, available at top500.org.