Strategic partnership with provider of Chinese market-leading brand Huaqi
products will enable feature-rich portable media players and mobile
applications based on Vivace technology
BEIJING, China and BEVERLY, MA., Dec. 18 /Xinhua-PRNewswire/ -- Vivace
Semiconductor, a leader in digital media processing chips, today signed a
strategic partnership with Huaqi Information Digital Technology Co., Ltd. of
Beijing to collaborate on developing programmable, low-power, high
performance solutions for the Aigo-branded line of portable media player
products in China and worldwide. The multi-year agreement, which follows the
formation of Vivace Semiconductor (Beijing), Ltd. , will see the two
companies develop and apply Vivace's next-generation media processing
technology to the Huaqi family of consumer electronic products. Huaqi is the
leading consumer electronics brand in China in several key market segments,
including portable multimedia players (PMPs) and mobile TV advices.
(Photo: http://www.prnasia.com/sa/200612151608.jpg )
(Photo: http://www.prnasia.com/sa/200612151610.JPG )
Under terms of the multi-year agreement Huaqi and Vivace will collaborate
on developing high-performance and low-power platforms under the Huaqi brand.
The collaboration will include design of next generation media processor chip
products for PMPs and mobile TV equipment. The two companies are also
working on a reference design for Huaqi PMP products, leveraging Vivace's
ViViD(TM) media processing engine in next generation designs.
"As the leading supplier of multimedia consumer electronics, we must
always maintain our technology edge and be able to incorporate new features
and functionality, at competitive price points. The Vivace technology offers
us a platform to continue to innovate and maintain our competitive advantage
in this very dynamic market," said Feng Jun, president of Huaqi. "Vivace's
Vivid core-based platform is ideally suited to support the future
proliferation of video content available from a wide variety of sources in
numerous formats and supported by a multitude of standards. The addition of
a local Beijing team from Vivace also greatly enhances our ability to
collaborate efficiently."
Based on the company's ViViD media engine technology, Vivace's feature-
rich solutions are optimized for fast-moving market segments -- providing a
range of integrated capabilities, supporting multiple video and audio
standards, and consuming very low power when delivering full-rate video. The
flexibility of the solution allows the development of China-specific versions
of Vivace's media processing chips and reference platforms that include
support for local and regional mobile video/TV standards such as S-TIMI, T-
DMB, AVS and AVS-H, as well as special features to support emerging
initiatives and government-backed efforts in mobile media.
"This agreement demonstrates the advantages of our strategy to move into
China and aligns us with a market leader that will allow us to get traction
in the market very quickly. It secures a high volume commitment based on
leading-edge designs for years to come. Through this combined effort with
Huaqi, we can provide an optimized solution to a world-renowned supplier and
for the China CE industry at-large," said Cary Ussery, president and CEO of
Vivace.
About Vivace
Vivace Semiconductor develops high-performance, low-power video
processing chips that are optimized for the needs of high-growth consumer
market segments. Its chips support a full range of video and audio standards,
are based on the company's proprietary ViViD(TM) Media engine and include a
complete software suite for media processing and a fully programmable, open
platform for additional software integration. Its initial product line is
aimed at developers of portable media players and integrated digital
display/TV products. The company is headquartered in Beverly, Massachusetts.
More information can be found at http://www.vivacesemi.com .
About Huaqi
Established in 1993, Beijing Huaqi Information Digital Technology Co.,
Ltd. is a high-tech company headquartered in Beijing's zhong guan cun (a
technology hub, known as "the Silicon Valley of China"). It is a leading
domestic manufacturer of portable storage, digital products and self-
assembling products. Huaqi engages in R&D, promotion and service of computer
software and hardware products. Huaqi portable storage products, monitors,
digital products, computer cases and optomagnetic products have become market
leaders. Its products are exported to North America, South America, Europe,
and Southeast Asia. Huaqi portable storage products have occupied the largest
market share dominating the Chinese market in the past four years. Huaqi MP3
players, monitors and peripherals have also emerged as the market share
leaders in the Chinese market. Huaqi has more than 1,400 employees and an
integrated national marketing network system in China. Besides the
headquarters in Beijing, there are more than 20 subsidiaries and regional
offices in China. There are also offices in Singapore and France. Switzerland
and Canada branches are opening in 2006 to further develop the European and
North American markets.
Vivace and ViViD are trademarks of Vivace Semiconductor, Inc. All other
trademarks referenced belong to their respective owners.
