Actel and GateField Form Strategic Alliance; Multi-Year Agreement Enhances Actel's Position in Programmable Logic Device Market.SUNNYVALE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aug. 14, 1998--Actel Corporation (NASDAQ NASDAQ in full National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations U.S. market for over-the-counter securities. Established in 1971 by the National Association of Securities Dealers (NASD), NASDAQ is an automated quotation system that reports on :ACTL ACTL American College of Trial Lawyers (Irvine, California) ACTL Access Carrier Terminal Location ACTL Activation Library ACTL Automated Compatibility Test Laboratory ACTL Association Cultural Turkey-Luxembourg ) and GateField(TM) Corporation (NASDAQ SmallCap:GATEC GATEC Government Acquisition Through Electronic Commerce ) today announced that they have entered into a multi-year strategic alliance. The alliance gives Actel the exclusive right to market and sell GateField's Standard ProASIC(TM) products in process geometries of 0.25 micron and smaller as part of Actel's PLD (Programmable Logic Device) Refers to a variety of logic chips that are programmable at the customer's site, the customer being the vendor of the finished chip, not the end user. (programmable logic device See PLD. ) families. In addition, Actel has purchased assets used in GateField's Design Services Business Unit, in Mt. Arlington, New Jersey for $5 million with potential for an "earn-out" payment of up to $1 million based on the profitability over a three-year period, in a strategic move to position Actel as a solution provider for reprogrammable ASIC (Application Specific Integrated Circuit) Pronounced "a-sick." A chip that is custom designed for a specific application rather than a general-purpose chip such as a microprocessor. (application specific integrated circuit) systems. The strategic alliance provides for an initial cash payment by Actel to GateField of $2 million for the sales and marketing rights, plus $1 million at the time of product qualification. Over the life of the agreement, Actel and GateField will equally share gross profits from ProASIC product sales. To further strengthen the alliance, Actel has taken an equity stake in GateField, purchasing $3 million of preferred stock Stock shares that have preferential rights to dividends or to amounts distributable on liquidation, or to both, ahead of common shareholders. Preferred stock is given preference over common stock. Holders of preferred stock receive dividends at a fixed annual rate. convertible into two million shares of common stock at $1.50 per share. The preferred stock is entitled to a liquidation preference over the common stock equal to the purchase price. Actel develops FPGAs (field programmable gate arrays) based on non-volatile antifuse technology with current products ranging in size from 2K-36K gates. GateField currently offers reprogrammable FLASH-based FPGA (Field Programmable Gate Array) A type of gate array that is programmed in the field rather than in a semiconductor fab. Containing up to hundreds of thousands of gates, there are a variety of FPGA architectures on the market. products ranging in size between 50K-180K gates. Under the terms of the strategic alliance, GateField will initially provide Actel with a 0.25 micron ProASIC product family that is expected to support densities of up to half a million programmable logic gates. The alliance further provides for migration to smaller process technologies, which GateField and Actel believe will ultimately produce multi-million gate devices. Both companies participate in the PLD segment of the ASIC market. "Our decision to partner with GateField is synergistic with Actel's business strategy to be a worldwide leader in the programmable logic market," said John East, president and CEO (1) (Chief Executive Officer) The highest individual in command of an organization. Typically the president of the company, the CEO reports to the Chairman of the Board. of Actel. "GateField's FLASH ProASIC products add considerable assets to Actel's offering and strengthen our commitment to provide a broad range of customer solutions addressing time-to-market, performance, density and cost. Coupled with our May 1998 announced intent to acquire AutoGate Logic, Actel is increasing its momentum to compete in the rapidly increasing ASIC replacement market." "By combining our complementary products and technologies with a unified marketing and sales effort, this strategic alliance will leverage the strengths of both companies," commented Dr. James Fiebiger, vice chairman and CEO of GateField. "As Actel assumes full responsibility for marketing and sales, GateField can decrease its operating expenses Operating expenses The amount paid for asset maintenance or the cost of doing business, excluding depreciation. Earnings are distributed after operating expenses are deducted. through a planned reduction in force, totaling twenty-six people or thirty-three percent of our entire workforce. As part of this planned reduction in force, we will transfer some of our people to Actel to integrate our ProASIC offering into their product portfolio. This is in addition to the fifteen people who went to Actel through its acquisition of our Design Services Business Unit." "I think everyone involved agreed that this deal was a win for both partners and expects that it will be well received by all of our combined customers and the marketplace in general. Actel's and GateField's thrust to be recognized technology and market leaders in the programmable logic market will be significantly enhanced," stated Dr. Tim Saxe, president and COO of GateField, who will continue to oversee the company's product development and operations. Actel expects to benefit from GateField's recently announced strategic alliance with Siemens Semiconductor Group of Munich, Germany, which provides GateField with access to Siemens' 0.25-micron FLASH process technology, its wafer fabrication foundry, assembly and test support. Peter Feist feist also fice n. Chiefly Southern U.S. A small mongrel dog. [Variant of obsolete fist, short for fisting dog, from Middle English fisting, , currently senior vice-president of GateField marketing, will serve as liaison to Siemens Semiconductor(a) and will direct GateField's joint development of programmable logic products for Actel's future ProASIC lines. Actel plans to offer beta versions of ProASIC design software in early Q4 of this year and to have sample silicon for 0.25-micron ProASIC devices available by year end. As previously reported, GateField's common stock currently trades on the Nasdaq SmallCap Market subject to the satisfaction of certain listing requirements Listing requirements Requirements, including minimum shares outstanding, market value, and income, that are laid down by an exchange for any stock to be listed for trading. . Such requirements include the satisfaction of minimum net tangible assets Net Tangible Assets Calculated as the total assets of a company, minus any intangible assets such as goodwill, patents and trademarks, less all liabilities and the par value of preferred stock. Also known as "net asset value" or "book value". and stock price tests, among other requirements. There can be no assurance that GateField will be able to meet such requirements or that G |
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