Phison Press Release 2010/10/25

Kingston Technology Corporation and Phison Electronics Corp. plan to jointly invest in a new company focusing on embedded memory system product development, promotion and total solution services.

NAND Flash memory has traditionally been commonplace in consumer electronic products such as USB Flash drives, memory cards and MP3 players. This trend continued as NAND also became the standard storage solution in smartphones and other portable devices. Recently, there has been a move toward embedded memory which consists of NAND Flash and a controller, thereby easing the design-in effort for handheld makers and expediting the overall product development cycle.

Kingston is the largest independent memory module provider worldwide and is a significant participant in the NAND Flash memory application industry. As such Kingston has an outstanding brand image as well as a complete distribution channel and significant purchasing power. The new joint venture will take advantage of these capabilities.

Phison is the leading NAND Flash controller provider with excellent strategic alliances with the major players in the industry. Phison’s high level of controller R&D expertise will provide the new company a wide, competitive range of products with the best technical back-end support.

Kingston and Phison have enjoyed a long working relationship. Kingston is a 6.45 percent shareholder of Phison. Given the future trends in the NAND Flash market, both companies look forward to this new joint venture. The two companies combine expertise in engineering, production, sales and procurement. Together, this joint venture will lead to a healthy slice of the market for upcoming NAND Flash embedded applications.

The joint venture with Kingston will not affect any relationships with Phison’s existing partners, vendors and customers. As a total solution provider, Phison strives to develop the best controllers and systems products, hoping to accelerate the quick adoption of NAND Flash memory across the industry.