Japan's NEC Electronics and Germany's ELMOS Semiconductor AG are going to join forces in a worldwide long-term partnership. The agreement will encompass the joint development, cross-use of engineering and manufacturing services as well as common marketing of products for the automotive and industrial markets.

Customers of both companies will benefit from the combined strengths of high performance devices from NEC Electronics, like the 8- to 32-bit microcontroller series, together with ASICs, analog, and mixed-signal chips from ELMOS. The Elmos line includes voltage regulators, analog/digital converters, power-drives and NVM storage.  Design services are also offered.  About 90% of Elmos' sales are derived from ASICs for automotive applications.

Each partner will have access to the other's IP portfolio.  The initial focus of the partnership will be smart microcontrollers with enhanced functionality, intelligent system base chips including communication transceivers, and smart power devices with secure operation. In addition, the cooperation will benefit from the worldwide marketing and selling activities of both organizations. The product overlap between the two firms is negligible.

Contact:
Shinichi Iwamoto, VP, NEC Electronics, Microcomputer Operations Unit, www.necel.com
Anton Mindl, CEO, ELMOS Semiconductor AG, www.elmos.de