Elixent attracts strategic investment from Panasonic and Toshiba

Bristol, England, 6 April 2005: Elixent, the world’s leading reconfigurable semiconductor company, has announced the first close of a new round of funding. This latest round includes a strategic investment from Panasonic Digital Concepts Center, the Silicon Valley based venture capital arm of Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd. and Toshiba Corporation. Existing investors 3i, GIMV and NIF Ventures also participated. The new investment round, which when complete will total $15M, will be used to broaden Elixent’s sales through the development of complete application demonstration platforms for consumer product OEMs.

Elixent’s D-Fabrix reconfigurable algorithm processing (RAP) technology reduces chip development costs by enabling the same device to be used for multiple applications. It does this without incurring the size and power overheads of traditional programmable solutions. This is ideal for the growing convergence of consumer electronics devices as multiple applications, such as music players, PDA functions, video and still cameras, can be realised on the same chip.

“This latest round of funding demonstrates that reconfigurable technology will be an important component of future consumer electronic devices, and that Elixent is the leading supplier of this technology," commented Kenn Lamb, CEO of Elixent. "The headstart gained from our HP roots has allowed us to deliver a production ready reconfigurable technology to our customers.”

“We’ve worked with Elixent for two years now and this investment shows our ongoing commitment to the company and the system-on-chip technology we’ve developed together,” said Mr. Yoshio Ooida, Executive Vice President, Toshiba Corporation Semiconductor Company.

"Reconfigurable technology will play a key role in the next generation of consumer electronics. Our investment in Elixent demonstrates our high expectations of its technology and the market," said Mr. Dilip Sampath, Partner, Panasonic Digital Concepts Center.

About Elixent

Elixent is the leader in reconfigurable semiconductor IP, a technology that provides users with the ability to change the function of a chip even whilst in use.

D-Fabrix, the company’s patented reconfigurable algorithm processing (RAP) technology, provides ASIC designers with a flexible alternative to fixed function chips but without consuming the level of power normally associated with programmable technologies.

This combination is of particular benefit to companies producing electronic products for imaging and communications applications in consumer and industrial markets. The low power consumption makes D-Fabrix particularly attractive for mobile and battery powered products.

Elixent is working with a number of tier one semiconductor manufacturers, including Matsushita and Toshiba. Visit http://www.elixent.com for more information.