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World Leader in digital radio chips ships half million DAB devices

London, 21st January 2004: Frontier Silicon - the UK's leading fabless manufacturer of semiconductors for digital TV/radio and consumer multimedia products - announced it has shipped over half a million units of its digital audio broadcast (DAB) chips worldwide, making the company's Chorus chip the clear market leader in DAB devices.

Anthony Sethill, CEO of Frontier Silicon said, "Shipping half a million products is an important milestone which we reached in December 2003 - just 18 months since we started shipping products. But what is particularly pleasing is the fact that nine out of the 10 radios recently reviewed in a group test by a leading hi-fi magazine contained our chips and modules, and the winning portable and personal radios from Bush and PURE Digital were also based on Frontier's components."

Sethill believes that the combination of Frontier Silicon's products enabling mass market digital radios and new content from the BBC, Digital One and other radio broadcasters, has helped catalyse the significant growth in digital radio over the last 12 months - so much so that many consumer product commentators put digital radio as one of the hottest items in Christmas shopping lists last December.

Anthony Sethill said, "We are very excited about our prospects for continued growth. The combination of our good market position and recent funding from Apax Partners and Alta Berkeley - two of the world's leading technology private equity investment groups - makes us one of the leading UK high-growth technology businesses in this sector, and allows us to further strengthen our leading role in the development of the digital radio market."

Ends

About Frontier Silicon

Frontier Silicon is at the forefront of the digital revolution with a range of semiconductor solutions for digital TV, digital radio and other emerging consumer multimedia products. As a fabless semiconductor business, Frontier Silicon's core products include complete DAB modules, DVB-T solutions and the underlying system-on-chip (SoC) devices. Key customers for these products include consumer electronic, automotive entertainment and PDA/mobile phone manufacturers. In digital radio (DAB), the company's chips are found in the world's leading brands including Bush, Goodmans, Grundig, Ministry of Sound, PURE Digital, Roberts Radio, Cambridge Audio and TEAC.

Contact

Anthony Sethill, CEO
Frontier Silicon
Tel: +44 (0) 1923 474200
Fax: +44 (0)1923 202251
Email: