Renesas Launches SoC Utilising Imagination Technologies' PowerVR MBX Graphics Core Targeting the In-car Market

London, UK - February 23, 2004 -- Imagination Technologies Group plc ("Imagination Technologies"), the leading provider of multimedia and communication intellectual property ("IP"), reports that Renesas Technology Corp. today announced a high-performance system-on-chip (“SoC”) featuring IP licensed from Imagination Technologies. The Renesas SoC will enable powerful and sophisticated next-generation car information systems.

Imagination’s PowerVR MBX 3D graphics engine is incorporated alongside 2D technology in the Renesas SH7770 SoC for high-performance car information systems (CIS). SH7770 employs a newly developed SH-4A SuperH™ Family CPU core. Renesas has announced that sample shipments will begin in May 2004 in Japan.

The PowerVR MBX graphics core enables the SH7770 to excel at the 3D requirements of advanced navigation applications and other multimedia applications. PowerVR MBX adopts a unique architecture, which keeps external memory accesses to a minimum, reducing bandwidth requirements and boosting performance. Smooth, high-quality 3D graphic display operations can thus be achieved without the use of external dedicated graphics memory.

Under the terms of its licensing arrangements Imagination Technologies receives royalty revenues on SoCs incorporating Imagination Technologies’ IP shipped by partners, in addition to license fees.

About Renesas Technology Corp.

Renesas Technology Corp. designs and manufactures highly integrated semiconductor system solutions for mobile, networking, automotive, industrial and digital home electronics markets. Established on April 1, 2003 as a joint venture between Hitachi, Ltd. (TSE:6501, NYSE:HIT) and Mitsubishi Electric Corporation (TSE:6503) and headquartered in Tokyo, Japan, Renesas Technology is one of the largest semiconductor companies in the world and the number one microcontroller supplier globally. Besides microcontrollers, Renesas Technology offers system-on-chip devices, Smart Card ICs, mixed-signal products, flash memories, SRAMs and more. See: www.renesas.com.