TRIQUINT SEMICONDUCTOR REVEALS GALLIUM NITRIDE PRODUCTS,
OPENS INDUSTRY’S 1st GaN FOUNDRY SERVICE
TriQuint Introduces New High Frequency GaN Product Family,
First GaN Foundry Service Opened for September Starts
HILLSBORO, OR & ATLANTA, GA (USA) – June 18, 2008 – TriQuint
Semiconductor (Nasdaq: TQNT), a leading RF semiconductor manufacturer
and foundry services provider, today released the first of its gallium
nitride (GaN) power transistors for a wide range of high frequency
applications including mobile base station, defense and space
communications systems. TriQuint also announced opening the industry’s
first GaN Foundry service for customers with circuit designs intended
for production starts in September, 2008.
Gallium nitride represents the newest generation of amplifier technology
with significantly greater power density than other processes. It offers
considerable power savings and smaller device form factors for
space-conscious design applications and helps improve electricity
consumption, size and weight problems for a range of communications
applications. The benefits lead to better performance and lower overall
system costs for the customer, and can shrink carbon footprints for
network system operators focused on reducing global warming.
TriQuint’s first high frequency GaN device family is being introduced at
the IEEE IMS MTT-S microwave symposium in Atlanta, Georgia, June 15-20.
These discrete die-level devices boast up to 2.5-times the power density
of high voltage gallium arsenide devices. The new GaN devices operate up
to 18 GHz, have 55% power added efficiency (PAE), and can produce up to
90 Watts of output power.
GaN power technology has garnered significant defense and commercial
interest because of its ability to operate with substantially greater
power density (more wattage per square millimeter) and efficiency
compared to other commonly used solid-state amplifier technologies.
These factors enable the development of more efficient, smaller
amplifiers capable of operating at higher system voltages, which lower
overall system current demand and reduce the cost of power conversion.
“TriQuint’s work on the DARPA (Defense Advanced Research Projects
Agency) contract for high power, high frequency amplifiers has
progressed well. The new products we are announcing today represent our
first commercial release and we’re excited about the opportunities this
presents for customers,” remarked Dr. Gailon Brehm, Director, TriQuint
Defense Product Marketing. “GaN is one of several high power processes
we offer customers, and its unique advantages – greater power density,
high efficiency and rugged dependability, will appeal to designers
working with high frequency, high power applications.”
In March, TriQuint announced the largest gallium nitride epitaxial wafer
order in the history of IQE Plc. That order, with deliveries scheduled
throughout 2008, will support ongoing development efforts and the
roll-out of new commercial and defense products by TriQuint.
“Strategy Analytics sees future radar, communications, EW [electronic
warfare] and smart munitions platforms in the defense sector driving
early demand for GaN. There are also a myriad of commercial
opportunities within wireless infrastructure and satellite
communications as well as those in broadcasting and medical markets.
Inherent GaN properties including high power at high frequency, coupled
with high voltage and wide bandwidth performance, make gallium nitride a
technology that will see broad applications as it evolves in the
marketplace. GaN’s further advantages including reduced form factors and
weight savings translate into system efficiencies that positively impact
both capital and operating expenditures,” said Asif Anwar, Director,
GaAs and Semiconductor Technologies, Strategy Analytics.
“Strategy Analytics recognizes there are alternative amplifier process
technologies in the market competing with GaN…While this has limited
early opportunities for large scale gallium nitride standard product
portfolio development, a foundry service is well positioned to serve
these early prospects. In this regard, TriQuint's experience in all of
these markets as well as the leading place the company holds as a
foundry supplier puts TriQuint in a strong position,” he added.
TriQuint announced June 18th that it is opening gallium nitride Foundry
services beginning in September, 2008. Dr. Brehm remarked that
TriQuint’s GaN Foundry services will initially target power amplifier
applications through the Ku frequency band.
“Now that we’ve released the first member of our GaN discrete amplifier
family for defense, commercial and space applications, we’re welcoming
Foundry customers who have their own circuit designs ready for September
2008 starts,” Dr. Brehm said. “We want to meet with customers, identify
their needs and develop a successful implementation production
schedule.”
Visit TriQuint’s IMS MTT-S booth (#1027) June 17-19 in the Georgia World
Congress Center. Data sheets for the first members of the TGF2023-xx
family of GaN power transistors will soon be posted on
www.triquint.com; check the
website for details or contact TriQuint: GaN Foundry e-mail:
lisa.howard@tqs.com; GaN
discrete devices e-mail:
grant.wilcox@tqs.com. For detailed information about TriQuint’s wide
range of products for networks, mobile handset, defense and space
applications, visit www.triquint.com. Register for new product details
and our newsletter at
www.triquint.com/rf.
FORWARD LOOKING STATEMENTS
This TriQuint Semiconductor, Inc. (Nasdaq: TQNT) press release contains
forward-looking statements made pursuant to the Safe Harbor provisions
of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Readers are
cautioned that forward-looking statements involve risks and
uncertainties. The cautionary statements made in this press release
should be read as being applicable to all related statements wherever
they appear. Statements containing such words as ‘leading’,
‘exceptional’, ‘high efficiency’, ‘adding value’, ‘leading supplier’, or
similar terms are considered to contain uncertainty and are
forward-looking statements. A number of factors affect TriQuint’s
operating results and could cause its actual future results to differ
materially from any results indicated in this press release or in any
other forward-looking statements made by, or on behalf of, TriQuint
including, but not limited to: those associated with the
unpredictability and volatility of customer acceptance of and demand for
our products and technologies, the ability of our production facilities
and those of our vendors to meet demand, the ability of our production
facilities and those of our vendors to produce products with yields
sufficient to maintain profitability, as well as the other “Risk
Factors” set forth in TriQuint’s most recent 10-Q report filed with the
Securities and Exchange Commission. This and other reports can be found
on the SEC web site, www.sec.gov. A reader of this release should
understand that these and other risks could cause actual results to
differ materially from expectations expressed / implied in
forward-looking statements.
FACTS ABOUT TRIQUINT
Founded in 1985, we “Connect the Digital World to the Global Network”™
by supplying high-performance RF modules, components and foundry
services to the world's leading communications companies. Specifically,
TriQuint supplies products to four out of the top five cellular handset
manufacturers, and is a leading gallium arsenide (GaAs) supplier to
major defense and space contractors. TriQuint creates standard and
custom products using advanced processes that include gallium arsenide,
surface acoustic wave (SAW) and bulk acoustic wave (BAW) technologies to
serve diverse markets including wireless handsets, base stations,
broadband communications and military. TriQuint is also lead researcher
in a 3-year DARPA program to develop advanced gallium nitride (GaN)
amplifiers. TriQuint, as named by Strategy Analytics in August 2007, is
the number-three worldwide leader in GaAs devices and the world’s
largest commercial GaAs foundry. TriQuint has ISO9001 certified
manufacturing facilities in Oregon, Texas, and Florida and a production
plant in Costa Rica; design centers are located in North America and
Germany. Visit TriQuint at www.triquint.com/rf to register for our
newsletters.
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