Zoran And Infineon Join Forces To Develop Next-Generation Digital TV/Set-Top Box Solution

Zoran Corporation (Nasdaq NM: ZRAN), and Infineon Technologies announced that they have signed an agreement to license and develop a highly integrated single-chip digital TV decoder to address the emerging DVB digital TV and set-top box markets. The device will introduce a new level of integration of video, audio, graphics, communication, processing and embedded memory, perfectly suited to the evolving demands of smart, Internet-connected TVs. The development will be a joint effort between Zoran's and Infineon's skilled engineering teams and will produce a highly integrated IC, designed to address the convergent home multimedia and networked market. The new IC will benefit from the combined strengths of both companies. Infineon is a leader in embedded DRAM technology and communication system solutions such as VDSL and COFDM as well as analog TV. Zoran, a leading provider of ICs and embedded software for digital video and audio applications enabled by compression, contributes its DSP-based video and audio technologies that have become a standard household item via DVD, DolbyÆ Digital audio systems and digital cameras. The joint development effort will result in a complete system solution including a reference platform that will allow OEMs to greatly decrease time to market. ""I am excited to work with Zoran,"" stated Ruediger Stroh, Senior Vice President and General Manager of Infineon's Computer and Networking Peripherals group. ""By combining their proven track record in making such technologies like DVD and Dolby Digital a standard household item with Infineon's experience in the communication field, we expect a success story for both companies as well as for our customers."" ""We are proud to work with an industry leader like Infineon,"" said Dr. Isaac Shenberg, Zoran's Senior Vice President, Business Development. ""While remaining focused on the DVD and digital camera markets, Zoran is continuing to leverage its technologies via partnerships in new markets. Zoran's partnership with Infineon will benefit the consumer TV and set-top-box world."" ""We are excited to work with Infineon's engineers on this challenging development,"" said Alon Ironi, Zoran's Vice President of Engineering. ""This international collaborative development project, leveraging Infineon's vast technology pool and experience in analog and digital TV and Zoran's VLSI and embedded SW capabilities will enable us to reach a new technological peak."" About InfineonInfineon Technologies AG, based in Munich, Germany, offers semiconductor solutions for applications in the wireless and wired communications market, for the automotive and industrial sector, for security systems and chip cards as well as memory products. With a global presence, Infineon operates in the US from San Jose, California, and in the Asia Pacific region of Singapore. In the fiscal year 1999 (ending September 1999), the company achieved sales of Eur 4.24 billion (US $4.51 billion) with 25,800 employees worldwide. Further information is available at www.infineon.com. About Zoran CorporationZoran Corporation develops and markets integrated circuits (ICs), IC Intellectual Property (IP) cores, and embedded software for digital video and audio applications enabled by compression. Zoran also provides complete reference designs based on Zoran's technology. Zoran's product lines and IP include JPEG codecs, MPEG and DVD decoders, digital still camera system on a chip and digital audio. All of these standard-based products benefit from Zoran's Standard Plusô technology. Zoran's ICs are used in numerous digital video and audio products. Leading applications incorporating Zoran's products and IP include professional and consumer video editing systems, filmless digital cameras, standalone consumer DVD players, SuperVCD players, digital speakers and audio systems. Zoran is headquartered in Santa Clara, California, with additional operations in Haifa, Israel; Toronto, Canada and offices in Tokyo and Shenzhen, China. For more information about Zoran call 408 919 4111, or visit our Web site at www.zoran.com. Infineon and the stylized Infineon Technologies design are trademarks and service marks of Siemens AG.