Peregrine Ships 2 Billionth UltraCMOS® RF Chip and Celebrates 25 Years of RF SOI Innovation

Peregrine Semiconductor celebrates 25 years of driving the RF SOI revolution. From roots in government research-and-development innovation, Peregrine continues to revolutionize the industry with high-performance, integrated RF solutions. Peregrine products provide critical communication pathways for devices used around the globe and beyond - from the Mars Rover to today's most advanced smartphones. Peregrine chips have been to seven planets, Pluto and the Itokawa asteroid. And every day, handheld devices deliver critical conversations and data using a Peregrine chip. (Graphic: Business Wire)

SAN DIEGO--()--Peregrine Semiconductor Corp. (NASDAQ: PSMI), founder of RF SOI (silicon on insulator) and pioneer of advanced RF solutions, today celebrates two significant milestones – its 25th anniversary of pioneering RF SOI solutions and the shipment of the two-billionth chip. Peregrine reaches the two-billionth-chip milestone in an order to Murata Manufacturing Company, the leading supplier of RF front-end modules for the global mobile wireless marketplace.

Peregrine’s 25-year anniversary celebration will be held this afternoon at the Estancia Hotel in La Jolla, Calif., and will bring together individuals and organizations – such as the Space and Naval Warfare Systems Center (SPAWAR) – who have been instrumental in the company’s growth. “I am pleased to recognize the success of Peregrine Semiconductor and the Space and Naval Warfare Systems Center Pacific’s (SSC Pacific) role in successfully transitioning technology, originally developed for our warfighters, to commercial applications,” says Stephen D. Russell, Ph.D., SPAWAR Chief Technology Officer and Director of Science & Technology. “This highlights the need to make investments in basic and applied research, in this case engineering materials at the atomic level, which enables significant, new capabilities offered by UltraCMOS technology resulting in a revolution in RF communications. This is just one example of the importance and impact of the research that is performed at SSC Pacific, which has been fielding new capabilities to the Fleet for more than 70 years.”

From roots in government research-and-development innovation, Peregrine continues to revolutionize the industry with high-performance, integrated RF solutions. Peregrine products provide critical communication pathways for devices used around the globe and beyond – from the Mars Rover to today’s most advanced smartphones. Peregrine chips have been to seven planets, Pluto and the Itokawa asteroid. And every day, handheld devices deliver critical conversations and data using a Peregrine chip.

Highlights of the past 25 years include:

1988 – Peregrine founders Ron Reedy and Mark Burgener and colleague Graham Garcia, published their advanced SOI research findings in the “IEEE Electron Device Letters.” This paper served as the foundation for UltraCMOS technology, a patented, advanced form of SOI.

1990 Peregrine Semiconductor officially opened its doors for business and obtained the fundamental UltraCMOS patent from HP and Caltech.

1991 – Naval Ocean Systems Center (NOSC) and Peregrine signed a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CARDA), allowing Peregrine to commercialize UltraCMOS technology.

1993 – The company filed its first UltraCMOS patent.

1995 – Peregrine delivered its first 100 chips to Sciteq Electronics.

1999 To expand European operations, the company opened Peregrine Semiconductor Europe.

2000 – Peregrine shipped its first million-piece order.

2004 – The company entered the handset market.

2005 – Peregrine introduced the patented HaRP™ design technology, enabling dramatic improvement in harmonic performance, linearity and overall RF performance.

2008 – Peregrine announced the UltraCMOS DTC technology for mobile antenna tuning, solving one of the biggest challenges in RF design – antenna impedance matching.

2011 – The company shipped its one-billionth chip.

2012 – Under the ticker symbol “PSMI,” Peregrine stock began trading on the NASDAQ. The IPO raised $77 million for the company.

2013 – Peregrine signed a collaborative sourcing and licensing agreement with Murata Manufacturing Company and shipped its two-billionth chip. Today, the company introduces UltraCMOS 10 technology and celebrates 25 years of RF SOI innovation.

Reflecting on the past 25 years, Jim Cable, CEO of Peregrine Semiconductor says, “Today, we honor and recognize the contributions of our employees, the support of our industry partners, and the trust and confidence our customers have shown us. Peregrine is the shining example of a successful transition of government technology into the commercial sector. Moving forward, our team is prepared to continue this proud tradition of innovation to address tomorrow’s challenges.”

Please visit our press kit for a timeline graphic and information on today’s other news from Peregrine.

USE OF FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS
This press release contains forward-looking statements regarding our management’s future expectations, beliefs, intentions, goals, strategies, plans and prospects. Such statements constitute “forward-looking” statements which are subject to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. The achievement of the matters covered by such forward-looking statements involves risks, uncertainties and assumptions. If any of these risks or uncertainties materialize or if any of the assumptions prove incorrect, our actual results, performance or achievements could be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements. Such risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, our dependence on a limited number of customers for a substantial portion of our revenues; intellectual property risks; intense competition in our industry; our ability to develop and introduce new and enhanced products on a timely basis and achieve market acceptance of those products; consumer acceptance of our customers’ products that incorporate our solutions; our lack of long-term supply contracts and dependence on limited sources of supply; and potential decreases in average selling prices for our products.

For further information regarding risks and uncertainties associated with Peregrine’s business, please refer to the filings that we make with the Securities and Exchange Commission from time to time, including those set forth in the section entitled “Risk Factors” in our Form 10-K for the year ended December 29, 2012, which should be read in conjunction with these financial results. These documents are available on the SEC Filings section of the Investor Relations section of our website at http://investors.psemi.com/. Please also note that forward-looking statements represent our management’s beliefs and assumptions only as of the date of this press release. Except as required by law, we assume no obligation to update these forward-looking statements publicly, or to update the reasons actual results could differ materially from those anticipated in the forward-looking statements, even if new information, becomes available in the future.

ABOUT PEREGRINE SEMICONDUCTOR
Peregrine Semiconductor (NASDAQ: PSMI), founder of RF SOI (silicon on insulator), is a leading fabless provider of high-performance, integrated RF solutions. Since 1988 Peregrine has been perfecting UltraCMOS® technology – a patented, advanced form of SOI – to deliver the performance edge needed to solve the RF market’s biggest challenges, such as linearity. With products that deliver best-in-class performance and monolithic integration, Peregrine is the trusted choice for market leaders in automotive, broadband, industrial, Internet of Things, military, mobile devices, smartphones, space, test-and-measurement equipment and wireless infrastructure. Peregrine holds more than 150 filed and pending patents and has shipped 2 billion UltraCMOS units. For more information, visit http://www.psemi.com.

The Peregrine Semiconductor name, logo and UltraCMOS are registered trademarks of Peregrine Semiconductor Corporation in the U.S.A., and other countries. HaRP is a trademark of Peregrine Semiconductor Corporation in the U.S.A., and other countries. All other trademarks mentioned herein are the property of their respective owners.

Contacts

Peregrine Semiconductor
Elizabeth Brown, 619-993-4648
pr@psemi.com

Release Summary

Peregrine Semiconductor (NASDAQ: PSMI) today celebrates two significant milestones – its 25th anniversary of pioneering RF SOI solutions and the shipment of the two-billionth chip.

Contacts

Peregrine Semiconductor
Elizabeth Brown, 619-993-4648
pr@psemi.com