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Frontier Silicon opens Far East operations in Hong Kong and China to support growing digital radio and TV markets Hong Kong, 18th March 2004: Frontier Silicon - the leading fabless manufacturer of semiconductors for digital TV/radio and consumer multimedia products - has today announced the establishment of its first overseas operation, Frontier Silicon (HK) Ltd, and the opening of a new sales and technical support operation in Shenzen, PRC. The new centre provides technically qualified local engineers for sales and support to new and existing manufacturers of digital TV and radio equipment, and will assist local authorities in China and Hong Kong to set up facilities to broadcast DAB digital radio transmissions. The new Far East operations will be headed by SK Tay, formerly chief operating officer of Rockridge Sound - to date the largest manufacturer in China of DAB digital radios. Anthony Sethill, CEO of Frontier Silicon, comments, "Over the past two years we have worked with over 20 of Hong Kong and China's major audio manufacturers to produce leading-edge digital radio products for the European market. In the last year, Hong Kong and Chinese manufacturers shipped over US$50 million DAB digital radio sets based on Frontier Silicon's chips. Over the next five years, the DAB radio business for Hong Kong and Chinese manufacturers could easily grow to over US$500 million. The manufacturers here who pioneered the development of advanced DAB products are seeing real benefits from these activities in enhanced revenues and margins. They have taken a lead in this technology ahead of the usual technology pioneers in Japan and Korea, and have seen the benefits of being first to market." Annika Nyberg, President, World DAB, an international non-governmental organisation established to promote DAB worldwide, said, "We are pleased to see this step has been taken to enhance DAB in the Hong Kong and China region, both for local services but also to enhance the status of local manufacturers. WorldDAB's objective is to promote the implementation of DAB digital radio services so today's announcement is an important step in bringing about a smooth introduction of DAB." Anthony Sethill continued to comment, "Frontier's new operations in Hong Kong and Shenzen will enable us to provide first class technical support which will enable our customers to get products to market in an efficient and timely manner." He added, "I am especially pleased to announce SK Tay as the general manager and director of our Far East operations. He is a respected manager who, as a former manufacturer, understands the issues our customers face day to day and will therefore establish the support customers need from a technology supplier." Ends Editor's notes China and DAB digital radio According to World DAB, China first started DAB trials in 1995, and the first three-station Eureka 147 single frequency network (SFN) was opened in 1996 in Guangdong Province, at Foshan, Guangzhou and Zhongshan. The Foshan transmission site is the signal processing centre of the network, providing not just quality sound, but also real-time video and graphic. DAB coverage provided by this SFN is about 8% area of the Guangdong Province, and about 1.3465 million people (mainly in Guanzhou city, capital of Guangdong Province). A second SFN was set up in Beijing, Tianjing and Langfang in 2000. Two transmitter sites SFN are currently under trial operation (Tianjing and Langfang), and provide DAB audio programmes. About Frontier Silicon Frontier Silicon, winner of the PricewaterhouseCoopers hottest technology company of 2004 award, is at the forefront of the digital revolution with a range of semiconductor solutions for digital TV, digital radio and other emerging consumer multimedia products. As a fabless semiconductor business, Frontier Silicon's core products include complete DAB modules, DVB-T solutions and the underlying system-on-chip (SoC) devices. Key customers for these products include consumer electronic, automotive entertainment and PDA/mobile phone manufacturers. In digital radio (DAB), the company's chips are found in the world's leading brands including Bush, Cambridge Audio, Goodmans, Grundig, Ministry of Sound, Philips, PURE Digital, Roberts Radio, Sharp and TEAC. About WorldDAB The World DAB Forum is an international non-governmental organisation whose objective is to promote, harmonise and co-ordinate the implementation of DAB digital radio services based on the Eureka 147 DAB system. It is dedicated to encouraging international co-operation and co-ordination between sound and data broadcasters, network providers, manufacturers, governments and official bodies, thus gaining consensus for the smooth introduction of DAB. The Forum represents more than one 80 companies and organisations from all sections of the broadcasting industry and from 20 countries. They include public and private broadcasters, DAB receiver and other electronic equipment manufacturers; transmission providers; regulators and governmental bodies. For more information, visit www.worlddab.org. Contact Anthony Sethill, CEO |
