Oki Electric Ships Samples of World's Smallest Package MP3 Decoder LSI; Enables Easy Embedding of MP3 Functions Regardless of System Structure or Applications.

TOKYO -- Oki Electric Industry Co., Ltd. (TOKYO:6703) today announced the sample shipments of its MP3 playback chip. The chip, "ML2011," integrates an MP3 decoder and speaker amplifier in a single chip with wafer level chip size packaging (W-CSP), achieving the world's smallest package of 3.6 x 4.2mm. In addition to the LSIs, Oki provides a reference board and a sample of its embedding software enabling users to achieve MP3 systems easily. Oki plans to manufacture this chip in full scale from December 2006.

"We are pleased to offer the ML2011, which is the world's smallest MP3 decoder chip equipped with a reasonably priced speaker amplifier. The chip can be used for any application that does not have a MP3 function because of its price or the limited space on the application," said Masahiko Morioka, President of Silicon Solutions Company at Oki Electric. "We plan to continue to expand our sound chip product lineup and develop LSIs that can playback audio for various applications."

As the use of digital audio players and mobile phones equipped with music playback functions grows, demands for systems equipped with digital audio functions, such as MP3, has also been increasing. While it has been difficult to provide an MP3 decoder chip equipped with a reasonably priced speaker amplifier, Oki succeeded in reducing the size of the MP3 decoder by applying SystemC and operation synthesizing technology to MP3 decoder optimization. With this, Oki successfully integrates the speaker amplifier, achieving a highly functional, low cost chip with the smallest size packaging in the world.

Oki's ML2011 is compliant with all MP3 formants including MPEG 1 Audio Layer III, MPEG 2 Audio Layer III and MPEG2.5, enabling users to replay a wide range of sounds from fully compressed voice to high-quality music. The 8ohm speaker amplifier has an output of 650mW and is designed to operate on 5V. Naturally, the chip is compliant with the MP3 decoder. It comes in two sizes: the world's smallest packaging of 3.6mm x 4.2mm W-CSP, or a 5mm x 6mm QFN package for easy mounting. Oki also offers a reference board, the "ML2011 reference board," and "SoundLib," the sample software for use in embedding. Users can easily connect the "ML2011 reference board" to their existing system, offering an environment for easy development and evaluation of the software. The use of "SoundLib" enables users to reduce the time needed for developing embedded software.

While a sound generator replays musical note files by combining pre-installed instrument sounds, the ML2011, because it is compliant with MP3, can replay both voice and vocals with music accompaniment. In addition, compared to speech LSIs, ML2011 provides better sound quality sound effects and can compress the data by 50%.

For further information on Oki's sound chips and technology, please refer to the following URL: http://www.okisemi.com/eu/.

About Oki Electric Industry Co., Ltd.

Founded in 1881, Oki Electric Industry Co., Ltd. is Japan's first telecommunications manufacturer, with its headquarters in Tokyo, Japan. With the corporate vision, "Oki, Network Solutions for a Global Society," Oki provides top-quality products, technologies and solutions to its customers through its info-telecom system business, semiconductor business and printer business. All three businesses function as a collective force to create exciting new products and technologies that satisfy a spectrum of customer needs in various markets. Visit Oki's global web site at http://www.oki.com/.

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