Atmel Receives Frost & Sullivan Award for its Outstanding Performance in Smart Card Market.

LONDON -- Atmel Corporation has been presented with the prestigious Frost & Sullivan 2005 Award for Global Market Penetration Leadership in recognition of its outstanding achievement in the smart card microcontroller integrated chip (IC) market over 2004.

In particular, the award commends the U.S.-based Atmel for capturing the number two position in the microcontroller IC market in terms of unit shipments and technology development with an enhanced product mix.

"The company's key innovative marketing and sales strategies, its strong emphasis on technological progress along with its wide product portfolio with multiple variations, has earned it success in the past and poises it to optimise its market position across multiple applications in the future," notes Frost & Sullivan Senior Smart Card Industry Analyst Anoop Ubhey.

Steady annual improvements in market ranking and shares validate Atmel's success in the smart card IC industry. The total memory and microcontroller unit shipments have risen from an estimated 33.2 million in 1999 to 286.7 million in 2004 -- an impressive growth rate that has not been matched by many others.

The company's major focus area -- the microcontrollers segment -- has experienced stronger growth. From a small base of 22.8 million in 1999, the company grew by nearly 137.7 per cent in 2000, followed by growth level of approximately 39.3 per cent in 2002, 120.8 per cent in 2003 and 93.7 per cent in 2004. Microcontroller IC shipments of 261.9 million in 2004 highlight Atmel's record of outstanding performance.

A total growth in memory and microcontrollers of around 77.8 per cent over 2004 has propelled Atmel from the fifth to the second position in terms of unit shipments. Key to this increased growth has been Atmel's strategic focus on market growth in Asia and on low-end products development.

With market share identified as the principal driving force for the company in 2004, Atmel concentrated on low-end, high-growth markets such as China and other Asian regions. At the same time, its product mix changed focus to accommodate more low-end offerings. In accordance with this shift, the dominance of the 64k market in 2003 waned with preference being given to the 16k and 32k markets in 2004. This resulted in a substantial increase in unit sales.

Despite the banking sector being a relatively new application area, Atmel has effectively established itself as a respected smart card IC supplier to this sector and looks set to leverage opportunities in this area. Identification has also begun to play a larger role in Atmel's business. While France (Sesam Vitale) and Malaysia have been the primary revenue generators in this regard, the Indian driving license and the U.S. passport programme also offer good sources of growth.

Frost & Sullivan

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