Infineon Sets Yet Another New Trend: Lowest-Cost Mobile Phone Platform for Internet-Based Telephony

  
    
  
  
    
      For three years now, Infineon (NYSE:IFX) (FWB:IFX) has been marketing 
      low-cost mobile phone chips that have given new swathes of customers 
      around the globe the chance to use phones for the first time. These 
      innovative chips pack all the key functions onto a tiny piece of 
      silicon. More than 50 million units had been sold by the end of last 
      year, allowing users to make phone calls within GSM mobile networks. The 
      problem was that call charges varied considerably depending on the 
      country and provider. Today, Internet-based telephony (Voice over IP) is 
      much cheaper. Up to now, however, the sophisticated technology needed 
      for this application was only available on expensive high-end phones 
      known as smart phones. In collaboration with Atheros, the American 
      wireless and wireline broadband technology specialist, Infineon has 
      therefore developed a chip platform that for the first time gives users 
      the best of both worlds. The low-cost chip from Infineon takes care of 
      all telephony functions in the GSM network, while the Atheros chip kicks 
      in when data packets are used via a wireless LAN (hotspot or WiFi) for 
      voice or data traffic over the Internet. Better still, the whole package 
      is available at an attractive flat rate.
    
    
      "The combination of our GSM chip and the wireless LAN chip from Atheros 
      gives even more people the chance to enjoy low-cost communication," says 
      Dominik Bilo, Senior Vice President Sales and Group Marketing at 
      Infineon's Communication Solutions Division. "For the foreseeable 
      future, broadband landline networks will not deliver full coverage in 
      emerging countries such as India, China and parts of South America. By 
      comparison, a wireless LAN and a couple of hotspots or a wireless IP 
      cell for a small village can be set up relatively quickly and 
      inexpensively. Billions of people can then plug into the world of 
      unlimited communication."
    
    
      Independent market researchers see significant growth opportunities for 
      the combination of GSM and VoIP technology in mobile phones. Some 186 
      million units are slated to be sold this year alone, and forecasts put 
      the figure for 2010 at 250 million units.
    
    
      Infineon's contribution to the new GSM/VoIP phones is its X-GOLD™101 
      single chip, which packs the core functions of a mobile phone – 
      voice processing, radio frequency management, power management, memory 
      and so one – into a footprint of just 8 mm2. 
      Atheros adds its 10 mm2 ROCm™ 
      (radio-on-chip for mobile) chip. This chip too is optimized to deliver 
      maximum functionality while minimizing power consumption. Compared to 
      conventional solutions, Atheros halves the number of components needed 
      for innovative wireless VoIP communication.
    
    
      Infineon will be taking the wraps off its new mobile communication 
      platform at the VON.x trade show in San Jose (March 17-20, 2008). 
      Initial products will be available to customers as early as the second 
      quarter of this year.
    
    
      For more information about Internet-based telephony, please refer to our 
      guidebook "The 7 Voice over IP Myths" at 
      www.infineon.com/presse/VoIP
    
    
      This news release and a picture are available online at www.infineon.com/press/
    
    
      About Infineon
    
    
      Infineon Technologies AG, Neubiberg, Germany, offers semiconductor and 
      system solutions addressing three central challenges to modern society: 
      energy efficiency, communications, and security. In the 2007 fiscal year 
      (ending September), the company reported sales of Euro 7.7 billion 
      (including Qimonda sales of Euro 3.6 billion) with approximately 43,000 
      employees worldwide (including approximately 13,500 Qimonda employees). 
      With a global presence, Infineon operates through its subsidiaries in 
      the U.S. from Milpitas, CA, in the Asia-Pacific region from Singapore, 
      and in Japan from Tokyo. Infineon is listed on the Frankfurt Stock 
      Exchange and on the New York Stock Exchange (ticker symbol: IFX).
    
    
      Further information is available at www.infineon.com.