April 2, 2001 – San Jose, CA – STMicroelectronics and Hitachi, Ltd. have signed an agreement to establish an independent company, named SuperH, Inc., to develop and license RISC microprocessor cores of the SuperH(TM) family.

The new company will be headquartered in San Jose and will license the SH-4 core and all subsequent SuperH cores to the open market, making it easier for customers worldwide to create powerful, cost-effective system-on-chip (SOC) embedded microprocessor (MPU) designs. SuperH, Inc. will also complete final development of the 64-bit SH-5 processor and take over the development of the future SH-6 and SH-7 cores.

SuperH, Inc will also have operations in Bristol, U.K. and Tokyo, Japan, creating a global R&D network and customer support structure. The Chief Executive Officer of the new company will be Toshimasa Kihara, formerly General Manager of Microcomputer & ASIC Product Operation at Hitachi, and the Chief Operating Officer will be Jean-Marie Rolland, currently R&D Director for MicroCore Development at STMicroelectronics. Initially, around 100 people will be employed by SuperH, Inc., the majority of whom will transfer from Hitachi and STMicroelectronics.

Both STMicroelectronics and Hitachi are contributing the necessary intellectual property rights, human resources and financial assets that SuperH, Inc. needs to start its operations. Initially, the new company will be jointly owned by Hitachi and STMicroelectronics and managed as an independent entity. The Board of Directors of the new company will comprise four members from Hitachi and four members from STMicroelectronics. A strategic round of investment is planned following incorporation.