Spreadtrum License Hantro Video Solution for their Baseband IC Product Family

-- Hantro announced today that Spreadtrum Communications Inc. have integrated the 4550 encoder and 5550 decoder into their SC6800 2.5G GSM/GPRS baseband chip. By incorporating Hantro’s hardware codec, the SC6800 is capable of encoding MPEG-4 and H.263 format video at resolutions up to CIF (353x288) at 30fps, decode up to VGA at 30fps and capture up to 8 MPixel JPEG still images.

With hardware acceleration for video and still image coding integrated into the baseband chip, Spreadtrum’s solution enables handset manufacturers to deliver high performance multimedia capability whilst maintaining the price points that are needed to capture the mass market.

Spreadtrum have also licensed Hantro’s multimedia application development platform which enables them to provide their customers with a complete and proven solution that is ready for handset integration.

“Video applications are becoming a pre-requisite in 2.5G and 3G handsets. Hantro’s video IP in our chip, along with their application development platform, enables us to offer a very attractive solution to our customers that reduces development costs and quickens time to market” said Dr. Chen Datong, CTO of Spreadtrum Communications, Inc.

“Spreadtrum has been a pioneer in Baseband IC designs industry since 2001 and is the worldwide #1 provider of baseband chips for TD-SCDMA.” says Eero Kaikkonen, President and CEO of Hantro “in order for mobile video services to achieve mass market penetration, low-power single chip baseband solutions must be capable of delivering performance levels greater than that which can be achieved with software only solutions. Spreadtrum are a frontrunner for integrating video capability into baseband designs.”

The SC6800 will be commercially available at the end of February 2006.

About Spreadtrum Communications
Spreadtrum Communication Inc. is a leading fabless semiconductor company developing and marketing innovative wireless communications products. The company provides 2.5G, 3G baseband IC, protocol stack software, application software, and total solutions for worldwide wireless terminal manufactures, independence design houses, and semiconductor companies. More information about Spreadtrum can be found on its website at www.spreadtrum.com.