Company Backgrounder

ISSI Company Information

Integrated Silicon Solution, Inc. (ISSI)

A technology leader, designs, develops and markets high performance integrated circuits for the following key markets: (i) digital consumer electronics, (ii) networking, (iii) mobile communications, and (iv) automotive electronics. And (v) industrial/medical electronics. Our primary products are high speed and low power SRAM and low and medium density DRAM. We also design and market EEPROM and Smartcards, and we are developing selected non-memory products focused on our key markets. We target high growth markets with our low costcost-effective, high quality semiconductor products and seek to build long-term relationships with our customers. We have been a committed long-term supplier of memory products, including lower density and smaller volume products, even through periods of tight manufacturing capacity.

Our outsourced manufacturing model is based upon a history of joint technology development relationships with key Asian and domestic foundries. For example, we had a technology development program for a 0.13 micron process with TSMC. We also make strategic equity purchases in selected foundries and currently we have an investment in SMIC, the first 8-inch foundry in China. We have expanded our presence in the important Asian market by adding design groups in Shanghai, China and Hsinchu, Taiwan, where we now employ over 80 design, product, and test engineers. Our design groups in China and Taiwan complement our core engineering and product management team located at our Santa Clara San Jose, California headquarters.

In recent years, the need for sophisticated semiconductor memory has expanded beyond the personal computer market and into electronic systems in a wide variety of markets, including digital consumer electronics, networking, mobile communications, and automotive electronics., and industrial/medical electronics. Increased memory content is required in these products to manage large amounts of data that create images and sounds in a digital format. For example, virtually all digital consumer electronic systems incorporate semiconductor memory devices to enable and enhance system performance.

Our customers include leaders in each of our five our target markets, including Apex, Changhong, D-Link, Samsung, and Sony in digital consumer electronics; 3Com, Alcatel-Lucent, Ambit, Askey, Cisco, and Yahoo! Japan in networking; Bird, Ericsson, LG Electronics, Motorola, and Nokia in mobile communications; and Bose, Delphi, Philips, and Siemens in automotive electronics; General Electric, Siemens, Philips and Tyco in industrial/medical electronics. Due to their significant size and market influence, these customers generally drive memory volumes in their market segments and help define the direction of future memory needs.

The increasing demand for high performance memory devices across a variety of end markets provides a substantial opportunity for a focused supplier of high performance memory integrated circuits, such as ISSI. Key elements of our strategy to capitalize on this opportunity are:

Build Collaborative Relationships with Leading Edge Foundries. We work in a highly collaborative mode with our principal wafer foundries to develop leading edge process technology and to gain more secure access to wafer capacity during industry up cycles.

Commit to Being a Long-Term Supplier of our Products. Our fabless sourcing model allows us to accommodate smaller volume product runs and provide a source of long-term supply for our customers' needs.

" Continue to Develop and Offer High Performance Products. We work with our customers to identify the memory requirements of their next generation products and then focus our development efforts accordingly.

Expand our Low Cost Cost-Effective Asian-Based Development Teams Close to our Customers. We intend to continue to capitalize on our extensive experience in Asia by expanding our low cost engineering development teams in Taiwan and China.

Further Penetrate Industry Leading Customers. We leverage our expertise in producing high quality memory products to penetrate our target markets through industry leading accounts that we believe define the direction of future memory requirements.

Develop Selected Non-Memory Products for Key Markets. In order to increase product diversification and to offer products that are synergistic with our SRAM and DRAM expertise, we are developing selected non-memory products for use in our key markets.

Company Summary

ISSI is headquartered in San Jose, California, with worldwide offices in China, Europe, Hong Kong, India, Japan, Korea, Singapore,and Taiwan and the U.S..

ISSI (Nasdaq: ISSI) was incorporated in October 1988 and completed its initial public offering in February 1995.

http://www.issi.com/