EM Microelectronic asserts its leading position in flash-based Smart Card ICs by leveraging Silicon Storage Technology's (SST) SuperFlash technology

— EM Microelectronic, a company of the Swatch Group, and SST (Silicon Storage Technology, Inc., NASDAQ:  SSTI), a leader in flash memory technology, today announced the companies have signed an agreement to license SST’s SuperFlash technology to EM Microelectronic.  Under terms of the agreement, EM Microelectronic will license SST’s 0.25-micron SuperFlash technology for use in its smart card IC products in exchange for licensing fees and royalties.  The agreement underscores the success of SST’s high-reliability, high-performance SuperFlash technology as the technology-of-choice for embedded applications and demonstrates SST’s success in penetrating the smart card market.  This agreement enables EM to continue exhibiting its superior smart card IC design and development as the most flexible solution on the market, thus reinforcing its core competencies in the smart card IC industry.  This new agreement extends the companies’ existing licensing relationship whereby EM Microelectronic has been using SST’s 0.5-micron SuperFlash technology since October 2001.

“EM Microelectronic has recently introduced the new EMTCG256-3G, a unique flash-based smart card IC with triple DES crypto engine.  This product significantly reduces logistics and development costs, and is highly cost effective when compared to similar memory size ROM version ICs,”  said Mougahed Darwish, president of the management board of EM Microelectronic.  “We had stringent requirements to achieve such performance with our chip and found SST’s proven SuperFlash technology to be the most suitable embedded flash technology available to serve data-sensitive smart card applications, which require low-power and robust reliability.  By integrating the 0.25-micron SuperFlash technology into our smart card ICs, we can provide our customers the highest level of security along with the leading-edge performance and flexibility offered by this advanced process.”

Bing Yeh, president and CEO of SST, said, “The world-wide smart card market is rapidly growing, because of the need for more secure consumer transactions and identification.  Due to the flexibility and reliability of our SuperFlash technology, we are rapidly gaining momentum in this market.  The agreement emphasizes the success of SST’s high-reliability, high-performance SuperFlash technology as the technology-of-choice for embedded applications and demonstrates SST’s success in penetrating the smart card market.  We are very pleased that EM Microelectronic chose to extend its SuperFlash license to deep sub-micron levels.”

Smart cards are used for numerous applications, including telecommunications, banking, ID schemes, healthcare and Internet access.  EM Microelectronic’s smart card ICs are currently used by many GSM subscribers and have already been selected for some 3G-network operators.  EM Microelectronic will manufacture its smart cards at SST licensed foundries and products based on this technology are ready for shipment now. 

About EM Microelectronic
EM Microelectronic is a semiconductor manufacturer that designs and produces ultra-low-power, low-voltage, digital, analog and mixed-signal integrated circuits for battery-operated and field-powered devices in consumer, automotive and industrial applications.  The company’s product portfolio includes RFID circuits and transponders, ultra-low-power microcontrollers, voltage reset ICs and microprocessor supervisors, regulators, smart card ICs, LCD drivers and displays, sensor and optoelectronic ICs, mixed analog and digital gate arrays and application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs).  EM also produces LCD modules and offers bumping services.

EM Microelectronic was founded in 1975 with corporate headquarters in Marin (Neuchatel), Switzerland.  It is a company of The Swatch Group Ltd., the world’s largest manufacturer of finished watches.  Additional company and product information is available at www.emmicroelectronic.com.

About EMTCG256-3G
EMTCG256-3G, also known as Theseus™ Cipher Gold 256 3G, is a unique FLASH smart card IC developed by EM Microelectronic and containing 256kB of pure flash memory, divided in 3 sections: 128kB of OTP memory, 64kB of EEPROM (both emulated from the flash memory) and 2 x 32kB of flash-blocks. One of the great advantages of EMTCG256-3G is that it can be assigned a flexible range of 64kB to 128kB of data space allowing a more fine-tuned positioning of the final product on the market. The chip contains increased security due to built-in analog sensors and the use of triple DES algorithms. It is based on a 8-bit microcontroller standard core 8051, making it simple and easy to use for developers. It is a high performance circuit since it has an internal frequency up to 30Mhz and it works from 5V all the way down to 1.8V which makes it compatible with the newest mobile phones available on the market. It complies to ISO7816 and is targeted mainly for use in SIM card and Java card for GSM mobile phones but works well also for banking, health and loyalty card applications.

About SuperFlash Technology
SST's SuperFlash technology is a NOR type, split-gate cell architecture which uses a reliable thick-oxide process with fewer manufacturing steps resulting in a low-cost, nonvolatile memory solution with excellent data retention and higher reliability. The split-gate NOR SuperFlash architecture facilitates a simple and flexible design suitable for high performance, high reliability, small or medium sector size, in- or off-system programming and a variety of densities, all in a single CMOS-compatible technology.

About Silicon Storage Technology, Inc.
Headquartered in Sunnyvale, California, SST designs, manufactures and markets a diversified range of nonvolatile memory solutions, based on proprietary, patented SuperFlash technology, for high volume applications in the digital consumer, networking, wireless communications and Internet computing markets. SST's product families include various densities of high functionality flash memory components, flash mass storage products and flash microcontrollers. SST also offers its SuperFlash technology for embedded applications through its world-class manufacturing partners and technology licensees including 1st Silicon (Malaysia) Sdn. Bhd., Grace Semiconductor Manufacturing Corporation (Grace), IBM, Motorola, Inc., National Semiconductor Corporation, NEC Corporation, Oki Electric Industry Co. Ltd., Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd., SANYO Electric Co., Ltd., Seiko Epson Corp., Shanghai Hua Hong NEC Electronics Co., Ltd., Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. Ltd. (TSMC), Toshiba Corporation, Vanguard International Semiconductor Corporation, and Winbond Electronics Corp. TSMC offers embedded SuperFlash under its trademark Emb-FLASH. Further information on SST can be found on the company's Web site at http://www.sst.com.

Forward-Looking Statements
Except for the historical information contained herein, this news release contains forward-looking statements regarding flash memory market conditions, the company’s future financial performance, the performance of new products and the company’s ability to bring new products to market that involve risks and uncertainties. These risks may include timely development, acceptance and pricing of new products, the terms and conditions associated with licensees’ royalty payments, the impact of competitive products and pricing, and general economic conditions as they affect the company’s customers, as well as other risks detailed from time to time in the company’s SEC reports, including the Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2003.

For more information about SST and the company’s comprehensive list of product offerings, please call 1-888/SST-CHIP.  Information can also be requested via email to literature@sst.com or through SST’s Web site at http://www.sst.com. SST’s head office is located at 1171 Sonora Court, Sunnyvale, Calif.; telephone: 408/735-9110; fax: 408/735-9036.

The SST logo and SuperFlash are registered trademarks of Silicon Storage Technology, Inc. Emb-FLASH is a trademark of TSMC. All other trademarks or registered trademarks are the property of their respective holders.

For information and international business inquiries about EM Microelectronic, please contact: EM Microelectronic, Rue des Sors 3, CH-2074 Marin, Switzerland, Phone: +41.32.755 51 11, Fax: +41.32.755 54 03, or info@emmicroelectronic.com.