Small in Size and With a Huge Impact on Mobile Phones

Munich, Germany – January 26, 2006 – Every mobile phone in the world needs a radio transmitter and a radio receiver to bridge the distance between the user and the base stations of the mobile network. Ongoing technology development since the early 1990’s, and a wide spread of regulations, restrictions and carrier offerings, have led to a broad selection of frequencies being available for mobile communication.

 

Today, in the most important digital mobile network, the GSM/EDGE (Global System for Mobile Communications/Enhanced Data GSM Evolution), one can find four different frequency ranges, while the next-generation version, WCDMA (Wideband Code Division Multiple Access), that includes UMTS (Universal Mobile Telecommunications System), brings another six frequency ranges to the game, with additional ones under discussion. The broader the selection of mobile phones for the consumer, the broader the competition among carriers – leading to ever-decreasing prices. However, this also means that cell phone suppliers need to have their products work properly across multiple frequency ranges, each of which requires sophisticated, comprehensive semiconductor circuitry in the mobile phones.

 

The latest radio frequency (RF) integrated circuit from Infineon Technologies of Munich, Germany, supports all the frequency ranges currently used in GSM/EDGE and WCDMA mobile networks, and measures just 6 by 6 square millimeters (0.24 x 0.24 square inches). The SMARTi 3GE chip is manufactured using a common low-power, high-performance CMOS technology, a state-of-the-art development for RF circuits, which often require specialized manufacturing process technologies. The SMARTi 3GE is a one-chip RF transceiver combining the receiving and the transmitting functions for the GSM/EDGE and WCDMA mobile standards. It reduces the printed circuit board space required for those functions in leading-edge, dual-mode multi-band cellular handsets by up to 40 percent compared to Infineon’s previous two-chip solution. This paves the way for further size reduction of cell phones, as well as for new design alternatives. And the consumer doesn’t need to make any concessions, because his next mobile device will work in today’s GSM/EDGE networks and in tomorrow’s WCDMA networks in every country around the globe. Moreover, the download speed of up to 7.2 Mbps for audio and video streaming is fully supported by this tiny RF chip.

 

With over 200 million RF chips sold in 2005, Infineon is the global market leader in RF products for mobile devices.

Infineon Technologies AG, Munich, Germany, offers semiconductor and system solutions for automotive, industrial and multimarket sectors, for applications in communication, as well as memory products. With a global presence, Infineon operates through its subsidiaries in the US from San Jose, CA, in the Asia-Pacific region from Singapore and in Japan from Tokyo. In fiscal year 2005 (ending September), the company achieved sales of Euro 6.76 billion with about 36,400 employees worldwide. Infineon is listed on the DAX index of the Frankfurt Stock Exchange and on the New York Stock Exchange (ticker symbol: IFX). Further information is available at www.infineon.com.