DUBLIN, U.K., Dec. 15, 2003 (PRIMEZONE) -- CEVA, Inc., (Nasdaq:CEVA) (LSE:CVA), the leading licensor of Digital Signal Processor (DSP) cores and integrated applications to the semiconductor industry, and Spreadtrum Communications, a leading provider of wireless integrated circuit (IC) and software solutions, announced today that Spreadtrum has begun shipping to Chinese customers it's GSM/GPRS modules and baseband chips for 2G/2.5G handsets powered by CEVA-TeakLite DSP Core.In addition, the two companies announced today that they have extended their relationship with Spreadtrum's licensing the higher performance CEVA-Teak DSP Core to power chips targeting China's next generation 3G cellular standards. Spreadtrum has licensed CEVA's Dual MAC CEVA-Teak DSP Core for wireless communications for both GSM/GPRS/Multimedia handsets as well as solutions migrating to the 3G TD-SCDMA and W-CDMA standards.
This focus on China by Spreadtrum and CEVA is targeted to take advantage of the considerable opportunities in the world's fastest growing economy and cellular market. The TD-SCDMA standard, primarily aimed at the Chinese market, will deliver broadband wireless data rates enabling operators to migrate from existing GSM/GPRS networks to third-generation functionality without major infrastructure changes.
"CEVA-TeakLite DSP Cores are widely adopted in the GSM/GPRS market where cost and energy efficiency are critical differentiators," said David Chen, Spreadtrum Communications CTO. "The success of our GSM/GPRS chip has led us to expand our co-operation with CEVA, and the deployment of CEVA's higher performance CEVA-Teak DSP Core to power our next generation products."
"China is already the largest market for cell phones and holds tremendous potential for growth," said Gideon Wertheizer, EVP of CEVA. "Our successful deployment with the very talented and focused Spreadtrum team has quickly led to strategic customer design wins in the Chinese market."
Spreadtrum has commenced shipping to their customers the GSM/GPRS Digital Base Band chip, the SC6600, which is powered by CEVA-TeakLite DSP. The SC6600 is a highly integrated GSM/GPRS single baseband mixed-signal chip containing all digital and analog functionality for a GSM/GPRS wireless phone. The SC6600 provides both voice and data functions, and can be used in GSM/GPRS tri-band cell phones, data modems and other mobile terminal devices. Reference designs for a complete GSM/GPRS handset terminal are available.
About CEVA-TeakLite DSP and CEVA-Teak DSP CEVA-TeakLite DSP and CEVA-Teak DSP are members of the CEVA DSP Core family. These low-power, fixed-point licensable DSP cores offer a range of performance, cost and power consumption balances to address a wide range of applications. A comprehensive portfolio of software and hardware development tools supports the CEVA DSP Cores family as do a large network of third party companies offers applications, tools and design services solutions.
CEVA DSP Core licensees benefit from the advanced architecture features, such as:
-- Fully synthesizable soft core that can be easily ported to any process or foundry
-- Code compatibility allowing re-use of legacy code and significantly shorter time to market
-- Low power consumption, high code density - to reduce chip cost
-- Cores offered at various performance levels - beginning with single-MAC (CEVA-TeakLite DSP) architecture to Dual-MAC (CEVA-Teak), Dual-MAC with Instruction Level Parallelism (CEVA-Palm DSP) and the scalable, multiple MAC and extendible architecture of CEVA-X, the latest generation DSP architecture from CEVA.
About Spreadtrum Communications
Spreadtrum Communication Inc. is a leading fabless semiconductor company developing and marketing innovative digital wireless communications products. The company provides 2.5G, 3G base band chip set, protocol stack software, application software, and total solution for wireless equipment manufactures, mobile terminal vendors, and semiconductor companies. Spreadtrum leverages its expertise in mix signal design, software and software application, and wireless data communication to deliver customers with high performance, low power consumption, cost effective, and flexible and highly integrated turn-key solutions. More information about Spreadtrum can be found on its website at http://www.spreadtrum.com.
About CEVA, Inc.
Headquartered in San Jose, CEVA (NASDAQ: CEVA and LSE: CVA) is the leading licensor of DSP cores and integrated applications to the semiconductor industry. CEVA markets a portfolio of DSP IP in three integrated areas: CEVA DSPs; CEVA-Xpert Open Framework Environment; CEVA-Xpert Applications; supported by CEVA Xpert Integration services. CEVA's products are used in over 60 million devices each year. The company was formerly known as ParthusCeva, Inc. For more information, visit www.ceva-dsp.com.