Sanken Electric and Vicor Partner to Commercialize V-I Chip Technology

Dublin, Jun 17, 2008 (M2 PRESSWIRE via COMTEX) -- VICR | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating -- Vicor Corp. annouced that Sanken Electric Co. and Vicor have entered into a non-exclusive license agreement to commercialize Vicor's V-I Chip technology for consumer markets, including the flat-panel television market.

Under the terms of the agreement, Sanken said it will design, manufacture, and market products based on Vicor's V-I Chip technology. Sanken, Polar Semiconductor, (PSI) (a Sanken subsidiary), Vicor, V-I Chip Corp. (a Vicor subsidiary), Picor Corp. (a Vicor subsidiary), and Great Wall Semiconductor Corp. all said they are parties to the agreement.

The companies said the first product to result from this partnership is a 300W AC-DC power system for flat-panel TVs. This power system is thin, measuring only 10mm in height, and features a footprint that is four times smaller than competitive products, the companies said.

"Sanken Electric has been a leader in power supply solutions for the flat-panel TV industry for many years," said Sadatoshi Iijima, President of Sanken Electric. "Vicor's Factorized Power Architecture and its V-I Chip building blocks have reset the state-of-the-art in power system density, efficiency, and flexibility. By partnering with Vicor, Sanken gains access to proprietary power conversion technology which we can use to serve our many customers in this important market space."

As part of the ongoing partnership, Sanken Electric and V-I Chip said they have agreed to enter into a Mutual Second Source Agreement to supply each other with V-I Chips manufactured in their respective facilities. Sanken said it will transfer V-I Chip assembly technology to its Ishikawa facility.

Under the partnership, Sanken said its subsidiary PSI will supply silicon wafers and BCD technology to Picor, a Vicor subsidiary specializing in ASICs, power management and low power products. In addition, Sanken, PSI, V-I Chip, and Picor all said they will collaborate on ASICs and systems for power products.

"PSI is primarily focused on high quality, low cost wafer manufacturing for the Sanken Group," said Zen Suzuki, CEO of PSI. "However, PSI is also an Advanced IC and Power Design Center for Sanken. Sanken and PSI will collaborate with Picor and V-I Chip to enable innovative ASICs and power products for our customers."

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((Distributed via M2 Communications Ltd - http://www.m2.com))

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