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October 2, 2007
Munich, Germany / Tokyo, Japan - October 2, 2007 - Sony Corporation and Qimonda AG (NYSE: QI), a leading supplier of memory products, today announced that they have signed an agreement to found the joint venture Qreatic Design. The scope of the joint venture is the design of high-performance, low power, embedded and customer specific DRAMs for consumer and graphic applications. According to the agreement, the 50:50 joint venture is intended to start with up to 30 specialists from Sony and Qimonda, bringing together their first-class engineering expertise for the mutual benefit of both companies. Qreatic Design, which will be located in Tokyo, Japan, is planned to start operations by the end of the calendar year, subject to regulatory approvals and other closing conditions, and to substantially expand its capacities by hiring additional designers.
As industry leading DRAM specialists, Qimonda possesses wide-ranging expertise encompassing all aspects of DRAM technology, from design to fabrication. Meanwhile, Sony continues to leverage its own DRAM expertise to develop unique solutions specifically tailored to finished products. By combining both companies' accumulated technological knowledge and respective capabilities, the new joint venture will seek to realize unparalleled custom DRAM design strength.
"We believe that the joint venture will support our future product design and solutions development and will further pave the way for our product diversification in non-PC applications", said Kin Wah Loh, President and CEO of Qimonda. "The set up of a new design center in Tokyo in cooperation with Sony is a strategic step to accelerate the worldwide R&D capabilities in that area. As Japan is an important and dynamic market for us and shows excellent R&D talents especially in the consumer and graphic area, we are glad to consistently expand our successful activities here."
"We identified the establishment of a joint venture with Qimonda, a leader in the DRAM field, as an ideal opportunity to extend the advanced DRAM design expertise with which Sony has continued to generate added value in finished products into new business areas", said Yutaka Nakagawa, Executive Deputy President, Officer in charge of Sony's Semiconductor & Component Group (Semiconductor and Component). "We believe the integration of both companies' technological strengths will lead to unprecedented levels of creativity and design that will continue to develop in the future."
Tsuyoshi Kashiwagi (Sony) has been appointed as President and CEO of Qreatic Design, Thomas Seifert (Qimonda) as chairman of the board.
Qimonda AG (NYSE: QI) is a leading global memory supplier with a broad diversified DRAM product portfolio. The company generated net sales of €3.81 billion in its 2006 financial year and has approximately 13,000 employees worldwide. Qimonda has access to five 300mm manufacturing sites on three continents and operates five major R&D facilities. The company provides DRAM products to a wide variety of applications including computing, graphics, mobile and consumer using power saving technologies and designs. Further information is available at www.qimonda.com.
Sony Corporation is a leading manufacturer of audio, video, game, communications, key device and information technology products for the consumer and professional markets. With its music, pictures, computer entertainment and on-line businesses, Sony is uniquely positioned to be the leading electronics and entertainment company in the world. Sony recorded consolidated annual sales of approximately $70 billion for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2007. Sony Global Web Site: www.sony.net/
This presentation contains forward-looking statements based on assumptions and forecasts made by Qimonda management and third parties. Statements that are not historical facts, including statements about our beliefs and expectations, are forward-looking statements. These statements are based on current plans, estimates and projections, and speak only as of the date they are made. We undertake no obligation to update any of them in light of new information or future events. These forward-looking statements involve inherent risks and are subject to a number of uncertainties, including trends in demand and prices for semiconductors generally and for our products in particular, the success of our development efforts, both alone and with our partners, the success of our efforts to introduce new production processes at our facilities and the actions of our competitors, the availability of funds for planned expansion efforts and the outcome of antitrust investigations and litigation matters, as well as other factors. We caution you that these and a number of other known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors could cause actual future results, or outcomes to differ materially from those expressed in any forward-looking statement. These factors include those identified under the heading "Risk Factors" in our Annual Report on Form 20-F for our fiscal year ended September 30, 2006, available without charge on our website and at www.sec.gov.
Statements made in this document with respect to Sony's current plans, estimates, strategies and beliefs and other statements that are not historical facts are forward-looking statements about the future performance of Sony. These statements are based on management's assumptions and beliefs in light of the information currently available to it. Sony cautions you that a number of important risks and uncertainties could cause actual results to differ materially from those discussed in the forward-looking statements, and therefore you should not place undue reliance on them. You also should not rely on any obligation of Sony to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. Sony disclaims any such obligation. Risks and uncertainties include the impact of any future events with material adverse impacts.
