TAIPEI, Taiwan, March 2 /Xinhua-PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Silicon Motion today announced that it has achieved successful customer implementation of the world's fastest USB 2.0 flash disk controller. The Taiwan-based, NASDAQ-listed (Nasdaq: SIMO) semiconductor company said that its customers have already produced products based on its SM321E and SM324 USB 2.0 flash disk controller chips.

Silicon Motion revealed that its customers will release in March new products which will include USB 2.0 flash disk drives with built-in fingerprint sensors and capacity displays based on the SM321E and SM324 flash disk controller chips. The introduction of Silicon Motion's new controllers has raised the bar for the industry's offerings of USB 2.0 flash disk product lines.

The SM324 supports dual-channel data transfer at read speeds of 233x (35MB/sec) and write speeds of 160x (24MB/sec), making it the fastest USB 2.0 flash disk controller in the market. The SM324 also has serial peripheral interface (SPI) which allows for not only Master and Slave modes, but gives customers the flexibility to develop more functionality into their USB flash disk (UFD) products such as GPS, fingerprint sensor, Bluetooth and memory-capacity display.

"The USB flash drive market is very competitive, so we have chosen to bundle as much functionality into our SMT321E and SM324 as possible in order to give customers more flexibility as well as speed up their time to market," said Wallace Kou, President and CEO of Silicon Motion.

In addition to providing faster speed and more functionality than any other UFD controller, Silicon Motion's SM321E and SM324 controllers support more types of flash memory than alternatives offered by other semiconductor companies. Supported memory include SLC and MLC NAND flash from Samsung, Hynix, Toshiba and ST Micro as well as flash products from Renesas, Infineon and Micron.

"The advantage of choosing a UFD controller which supports a wider array of flash memory is that the customer has flexibility in choosing its flash supplier. We've seen in the past that failure to secure flash supply can hurt a product's chances of success in the market," said Wallace Kou.

Silicon Motion's SM321E and SM324 UFD controllers also offer high system integration including Power-On-Reset and Regulator in the chip. Post-fabrication support is provided by in-system programming (ISP) which allows for firmware upgrades. Fabrication of the chips is done on a 0.16-micron CMOS process, putting it at the cutting edge of semiconductor fabrication technology and improving both power consumption and performance.

"In order to keep leading the market we continue to launch high-performance products such as the SM321E and SM324, giving Silicon Motion an even stronger reputation for flash support. Flash manufacturers will release more MLCs to the market soon and the demand for controllers that can support MLC flash will grow strongly," said Wallace Kou.

Both the SM321E and SM324 UFD controllers support Windows (XP/2000/ME/98/98SE), Mac (OS 9 and X) and Linux (kernel 2.4 and above) operating systems.

The SM321E and SM324 have been verified by more than 10 manufacturers including leading international brands.

The SM321E is available in a 48-pin LQFP package and a 44-pin LGA package. The SM321E supports up to 4 SLC or MLC NAND flash chips with 4 bytes / 528 bytes ECC.

The SM324 is available in a 64-pin LQFP package. The SM324 supports 8 SLC or MLC NAND flash chips with 4 bytes / 528 bytes ECC.

ABOUT SILICON MOTION:

Silicon Motion Technology Corporation is a leading fabless semiconductor company that designs, develops, and markets universally compatible, high-performance, low-power semiconductor solutions for the multimedia consumer electronics market. The Company's semiconductor solutions include controllers used in mobile storage media, such as flash memory cards and USB flash drives, and multimedia systems on a chip, or SoCs, used in digital media devices such as MP3 players, PC cameras, PC notebooks and broadband multimedia phones.

This press release contains "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. Such forward-looking statements include, without limitation, statements regarding trends in the multimedia consumer electronics market and our future results of operations, financial condition and business prospects. Although such statements are based on our own information and information from other sources we believe to be reliable, you should not place undue reliance on them. These statements involve risks and uncertainties, and actual market trends or our actual results of operations, financial condition or business prospects may differ materially from those expressed or implied in these forward looking statements for a variety of reasons. Potential risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, unpredictable volume and timing of customer orders for the SM321E and SM324 controllers, which are not fixed by contract but vary on a purchase order basis; the loss of one or more key customers or the significant reduction, postponement, rescheduling or cancellation of orders from these customers; general economic conditions or conditions in the semiconductor or multimedia consumer electronics markets; decreases in the overall average selling prices of our products; changes in the relative sales mix of our products; changes in our cost of finished goods; the availability, pricing, and timeliness of delivery of other components and raw materials used in our customers' products; our customers' sales outlook, purchasing patterns, and inventory adjustments based on consumer demands and general economic conditions; our ability to successfully develop, introduce, and sell new or enhanced products in a timely manner; and the timing of new product announcements or introductions by us or by our competitors. For additional discussion of these risks and uncertainties and other factors, please see the documents we file from time to time with the Securities and Exchange Commission. We assume no obligation to update any forward-looking statements, which apply only as of the date of this press release.

    Media Contact:

     Sara Hsu
     Project Manager
     Tel:   +886-2-2219-6688 x3509
     Email: sara.hsu@siliconmotion.com.tw

SOURCE  Silicon Motion Technology Corporation
    -0-                   03/02/2006
    /CONTACT:  Sara Hsu of Silicon Motion, +886-2-2219-6688 x3509, or
sara.hsu@siliconmotion.com.tw/
    (SIMO)

CO:  Silicon Motion Technology Corporation
ST:  Taiwan
IN:  CPR HRD CSE SEM
SU:  PDT





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6856 03/02/2006 08:00 EST http://www.prnewswire.com