Fujitsu and Taiwan’s Institute for Information Industry to Establish Joint Venture for WiMAX Application Platforms

Fujitsu Limited and the Institute for Information Industry (III) of Taiwan, a non-governmental organization jointly sponsored by the Taiwan government and prominent private enterprises, today announced their agreement to enter into a memorandum of understanding (MOU), to establish a new company in Taiwan that will develop application platforms and provide engineering support based on WiMAX technology from Fujitsu and III. Through the joint venture, scheduled to be established in March 2008, it is anticipated that Fujitsu and III will significantly contribute to the development of the WiMAX industry in Taiwan.

A press conference and signing ceremony, attended by Taiwanese officials and executives of Fujitsu and III, were held in Tokyo today.

Leveraging Fujitsu’s state-of-the-art WiMAX SoC solutions and III’s software technologies, the new joint venture will develop WiMAX application platforms and provide them to ODM vendors in Taiwan. With fully localized engineering support provided by the new company, such platforms will enable ODM vendors to rapidly achieve mass production of attractive and competitive WiMAX equipment. Since numerous global brand equipment vendors are using Taiwanese ODM vendors as manufacturing partners, it is expected that application platforms and localized engineering support provided by the new company will spur the rapid growth of the global WiMAX industry.

The new joint venture’s initial target applications will include mobile WiMAX handsets, and femto/pico base stations. Such application platforms will be delivered to ODM vendors in Taiwan to shorten the time-to-market and help them to bring up their WiMAX products to the worldwide customers quickly.

Fujitsu is a founding board member of the WiMAX Forum, an industry-led, not-for-profit organization formed to certify and promote the compatibility and interoperability of broadband wireless products, with a goal to accelerate the introduction of such products into the marketplace. Fujitsu already ships mobile WiMAX SoC solutions targeting WiMAX Forum Wave 2 certification compliance, to various global customers.

The Taiwan government has been playing an important role in the M-Taiwan Project to promote the development of the WiMAX industry in Taiwan. The research and development projects under the M-Taiwan Project are conducted by III, other research institutes and several private companies.
Overview of the Joint Venture
Company Name (Tentative):

Taiwan Solution AE Center (Tentative)
Date of Establishment:

Scheduled for March, 2008
Capitalization:

Approximately 5 million USD (Fujitsu: 51%, III and other Taiwan entities: 49%)
Location (Tentative):

Taipei, Taiwan (Tentative)





About Fujitsu

Fujitsu is a leading provider of customer-focused IT and communications solutions for the global marketplace. Pace-setting device technologies, highly reliable computing and communications products, and a worldwide corps of systems and services experts uniquely position Fujitsu to deliver comprehensive solutions that open up infinite possibilities for its customers’ success. Headquartered in Tokyo, Fujitsu Limited (TSE:6702) reported consolidated revenues of 5.1 trillion yen (US$43.2 billion) for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2007. For more information, please see: www.fujitsu.com
About Institute for Information Industry (III)

The Institute for Information Industry (III) was established in 1979 as a non-governmental organization, jointly sponsored by the Taiwan government and prominent private enterprises, for the purpose of strengthening the developments of information industry in Taiwan. For more information, please see:http://www.iii.org.tw/english/