e.Digital Corporation (fka EDIG)

[Tenderloin]

Ot: SigmaTel IPO

Company makes computer chips for audio devices such as MP3 players

By Robert Elder Jr.

AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF

Thursday, July 3, 2003

Chip company SigmaTel Inc. has filed for an initial public offering of stock, the first Austin company to jump into the IPO waters since October 2000.

SigmaTel, a leader in computer chips for MP3 players and other audio processing chips, hopes to raise up to $75 million in the offering, according to a Securities and Exchange Commission filing Thursday.

Initial public offerings for stock used to be a fairly regular event in Austin, but no company based here has launched one since biotechnology concern Introgen Inc. in October 2000.

The market downturn that started in March 2000 depressed investors' enthusiam for IPOs. In the second quarter of this year, for instance, only 5 U.S. companies conducted initial stock offerings to the public.

SigmaTel, under Chief Executive Officer Ron Edgerton, has been a turnaround story over the past two years as it replaced top executives and focused on the consumer audio market for devices such as MP3 players. The company was founded in 1993.