April 25, 2006 – Jazz Semiconductor Inc. has filed a registration statement with the SEC for a proposed $105 million initial public offering (IPO) of common stock. Specific pricing terms or dates were not disclosed. The company would trade under the ticker symbol “JAZZ.” Jazz initially filed for a $150 million IPO in January 2004, but pulled the offer in June 2005.

Initially the Newport Beach, CA-based semiconductor fabrication operation of Conexant Systems Inc., Jazz was reformed in early 2002 as an independent semiconductor foundry, supported by early customers Conexant and another spinoff, Skyworks. About 60% of Jazz’s business still comes from those two customers. A wafer supply and services agreement with Conexant expires in March 2007. A similar wafer supply agreement with RF Micro Devices, signed in Oct. 2002, expires in late 2007.

Jazz has manufacturing supply deals with China’s Advanced Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp. (ASMC) and Shanghai Hua Hong NEC Electronics Co. Ltd. (HHNEC), for higher-volume production following process implementation and qualification from the Newport operation. Jazz stated in the SEC filing that it expects to rely upon those two firms “for a significant portion of our future manufacturing capacity.”

Jazz posted a net loss of $11.5 million in fiscal 2005, compared with a $4.3 million loss in 2004, on 9% lower revenues of $199.0 million. About two-thirds of revenues were for specialty process technologies, with the remainder for standard CMOS semiconductor processes.