NORDIC SEMICONDUCTOR ASA

Vestre Rosten 81

7075 Tiller NORWAY

Tel: (47)72.89.89.00

Fax: (47)72.89.89.89

FAST FACTS

Classification: IC, IP Cores, Public

Employees:

Nordic Semiconductor, which in 2004 changed its name from Nordic VLSI, sales' focus has been on its standard products. It's ASIC and custom division (the SOC division), however does contribute a significant amount of revenue.  However, it is the standard products group that has in recent history contributed to the company's growth. From 2001 to 2003, sales of Nordic's standard products grew from $0.7 million to $4 million. SoC products, on the other hand, declined from $4.9 million to $3.4 million for the same period. Nordic's growth drivers have been wireless and digital photography applications. Applications for the wireless products include wireless game controllers, wireless mouse and keyboard devices, keyless entry and security applications. One of the major accounts Nordic obtained in 2004 was from Logitech, one of the world's largest producers of computer input / output peripherals.

Nordic's standard products are grouped into two categories. One group is short range radio communications (in the 2.4 GHz range) and the other is high speed data converters.  Its data converter revenue in 2003 doubled from 2002 levels to reach $2.6 million.  For its second quarter ended June 30, 2004, Nordic has seen sales growth from its short range communications devices.  This permitted sales of Nordic's standard components to increase over six fold - from $0.7 million in the second quarter of 2003 to $4.2 million in the second quarter of 2004.  Specifically, Nordic's nRF24XX series of transceivers and transmitters (which have an on-chip microcontroller and analog-to-digital converter) were attributed to the growth in short range communications devices. In Nordic's second quarter of 2003, sales of these devices were around $0.15 million. For the second quarter of 2004, revenue from these devices hovered at the $3.4 million level.  Revenue from custom designs also increased. The SoC division, which is responsible for custom design, increased its revenue from $0.7 million from $0.5 million for the corresponding periods. Nordic's more recent short range radio products, the nRF9E5 and nRF905 have been reported to exceed expectations. For the second quarter of 2004 sales were about $0.13 million. 

Besides its high growth products, Nordic has other products, which could give it market share in emerging markets. It is one of the few companies with an UWB (Ultra Wide Band) chip, a potential alternative to Wi-Fi.  UWB chip technology has been formalized in the electronics community through the 802.15.3.a IEEE standard. For the current Wi-Fi market, Nordic has a WLAN 802.11x analog front end chip, which includes a receiver and transmitter.

MAIN INTEGRATED CIRCUIT PRODUCTS / TECHNOLOGY

Wireless Network:  RF Transcievers, RF Transmitters, Ultra Wide Band, WiFi, WLAN, 802.11

GENERAL CONTACTS

Information: info@nordicsemi.no

URL: www.nvlsi.no

CUSTOMERS AND END MARKETS

Head Set, 2005: International Electronics, Inc

Facility Monitoring System, 2005: OmniSense

Wireless Mouse, Keyboard 2004: Cherry Semiconductor, Logitech

Wireless Smoke Alarms, 2004: Deltronic Security

MANUFACTURING PARTNERS

Assembly: ASE

Foundry: TSMC