Microchip sells its NAND flash memory property to Greenliant

Microchip has sold the NAND flash related IP and other property it got owned after acquiring Silicon Storage Technology (SST). The product lines sold included NAND Drives, NAND controllers, Smart Card ICs, Combo Memory, Concurrent SuperFlash, Small-Sector Flash and many-time Programmable Flash memories. The buyer, Greenliant Systems Ltd., is a new company founded by Mr. Bing Yeh, the ex-Chairman and CEO of SST. The sale included inventory, equipment, intellectual property and certain other assets and liabilities associated with the product lines. Approximately 100 employees (18% of SST's workforce) transferred to Greenliant as part of this transaction. SST also agreed to provide certain transition services to Greenliant for up to 90 days. The terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

"This transaction represents a step in Microchip's previously announced plans to restructure SST by selling certain non-core assets. The transaction involved employees as well as assets in Sunnyvale, California; Hsinchu, Taiwan; and Shanghai and Beijing, China. We are very pleased with the expediency with which we were able to consummate this multi-country cross-border transaction," said Steve Sanghi, Microchip's President and CEO.

Mr. Sanghi added, "Since closing the acquisition of SST on April 8, 2010, we have been working diligently on the integration activities associated with SST which include taking actions to achieve strong financial returns from the continuing businesses, integrating the SST employees into the Microchip culture, and actively marketing those assets held for sale. We are well on our way to transforming SST into Microchip's business model which we believe will provide substantial long-term value to our stockholders."

Mr. Sanghi concluded, "This transaction should have no impact on our previous financial guidance for continuing operations. The results from the business units sold to Greenliant have been classified as discontinued operations and will be reported as such through the date of the transaction in our financial results for the June 2010 quarter."