Third generation Mobile Radio UMTS: Infineon samples world's first dual-mode UMTS/GSM single-chip ba

Munich, Germany – September 28, 2000 – Infineon Technologies (FSE/NYSE: IFX) today announced that it has begun sampling its first dual-mode UMTS/GSM baseband integrated circuit solution enabling customers to develop highly integrated, miniaturized and feature rich third generation wireless terminals. The M-GOLD chip is worldwide the first single-chip baseband solution that drives the convergence of second and third generation (2G, 3G) mobile radio standards.

Intex Management Services (IMS; July 2000) predicts almost 1.8 billion worldwide cellular subscribers by the end of 2006. Over 50% of these subscribers will be using 2.5G or 3G technologies together with the respective mobile multimedia services such as customized infotainment, multimedia messaging, mobile Internet/Intranet access and mobile commerce.

“M-GOLD offers our customers an early and smooth migration from second to third generation mobile phones so that they can benefit as soon as possible from the emerging 3G business opportunity,” said Guenter Weinberger, Senior Vice President and General Manager of the Wireless Group at Infineon Technologies. “Delivery of the M-GOLD system chip once again emphasizes Infineon’s support of the industry and position as the leading wireless modem company.”

M-GOLD integrates both analog and digital functions (mixed signal design) and interfaces seamlessly with Infineon’s UMTS/GSM radio frequency chipsets. The highly integrated single-chip baseband IC incorporates Infineon’s UMTS and GSM/GPRS modems as well as an extensive set of dedicated and general purpose peripherals. Due to its dual-mode capability M-GOLD addresses all UMTS/WCDMA and UMTS/WCDMA/GSM markets.

M-GOLD is based on Infineon’s award-winning CARMEL™ DSP and TriCore™ architectures and is manufactured in an advanced five layer metal, copper 0.18 µm CMOS process. It will be available in a LFBGA 256 package.

Infineon’s Wireless Group develops, produces and markets semiconductors and complete-system-solutions for mobile applications like mobile telephones, cordless telephone systems and GPS equipment. The company is also a world leader in technology for the future mobile radio standards UMTS and Bluetooth. Infineon is one of the few companies that offer the entire spectrum of mobile telephone ICs. Infineon‘s market share for radio frequency and baseband ICs has continuously grown in the last few years and reached an 18 percent growth rate in 1998. With that, in comparison to world wide sales, Infineon was the largest producer of radio frequency ICs and the second largest supplier of baseband ICs. With a growth rate of 48 percent in the first nine months of fiscal year 2000, Infineon’s Wireless Group has grown considerably faster than the market.