Silicon Motion Brings World's Fastest USB 2.0 Flash Disk Controller to Market

Silicon Motion Brings World's Fastest USB 2.0 Flash Disk Controller to Market

March 03, 2006

    TAIPEI, Taiwan, March 3 /Xinhua-PRNewswire/ -- 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.

    For more information, please contact:

     Sara Hsu,
     Project Manager
     Tel:   [phone] x3509
     Email: [e-mail]

SOURCE  Silicon Motion Technology Corporation