Tower Semiconductor Ltd. (TSEM)

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Tower Semiconductor Manufactures Wireless LAN Chips for Atheros Communications

Monday February 6, 2:02 am ET
Tower's RF CMOS Technology Used in Production of Atheros Single-Chip WLAN Products

MIGDAL HAEMEK, Israel, February 6 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Tower Semiconductor Ltd. (NASDAQ: TSEM ; TASE: TSEM), a pure-play independent specialty foundry, today announced that the company has begun the production of wireless LAN products for Atheros Communications, Inc. (NASDAQ: ATHR - News), a leading developer of advanced wireless solutions. The wireless LAN semiconductor market in which Atheros competes is projected to be $3 billion in 2009.[1]

"We are pleased to add Tower Semiconductor to our list of qualified vendors," said Paul Franklin, vice president of operations at Atheros Communications. "We have set stringent qualification standards for all of our wafer suppliers and Tower has passed on all levels."

"We are glad that Atheros has chosen to manufacture some of its advanced wireless devices in Tower's Fab 2," said Yossi Netzer, general manager of mixed-signal & RF product line at Tower Semiconductor. "The Atheros WLAN products feature breakthrough technologies that save power while increasing throughput and extending the range of 802.11 networks. The company achieves this high performance in integrated, single-chip RF designs manufactured using low-cost, digital CMOS. We look forward to a longstanding relationship that enables Atheros to continue to bring superior products to market."

About Tower Semiconductor Ltd.

Tower Semiconductor Ltd. is a pure-play independent specialty wafer foundry established in 1993. The company manufactures integrated circuits with geometries ranging from 1.0 to 0.13 micron; it also provides complementary technical services and design support. In addition to digital CMOS process technology, Tower offers advanced non-volatile memory solutions, mixed-signal and CMOS image-sensor technologies. To provide world-class customer service, the company maintains two manufacturing facilities: Fab 1 has process technologies from 1.0 to 0.35 micron and can produce up to 16,000 150mm wafers per month. Fab 2 features 0.18-micron and below standard and specialized process technologies, and has the current capacity of up to 15,000 200mm wafers per month. Tower's Web site is located at http://www.towersemi.com/.

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