(February 16, 2006) San Jose, CA &#8212 Tessera Technologies and UTStarcom have signed a licensing and development agreement, in which Tessera will license its Tessera Compliant Chip (TCC) semiconductor packaging technologies to UTStarcom. Both companies have collaborated on developing UTStarcom’s MobileCard technology, which is an ultra-miniaturized mobile phone module that is equivalent to the size of two SIM cards. Tessera’s 3-D MicroZ multi-chip packaging technologies and system-level integration expertise played a major role in developing the module.

(February 17, 2006) San Jose, CA &#8212 In January 2006, North American-based semiconductor equipment manufacturers posted $1.26 billion in orders on a 3-month average basis and a book-to-bill ratio of 0.97, according to SEMI’s January 2006 Book-to-Bill Report. January 2006’s book-to-bill shows that $97 in orders were received for every $100 of product billed for the month.

Also on a 3-month average, worldwide bookings in January 2006 were $1.26 billion; 10% higher than the final December 2005 level of $1.14 billion, and over 27% higher than the $986 million in orders posted in January 2005. Worldwide billings in January 2006 was $1.29 billion; over 5% above December 2005’s level of $1.22 billion, and almost 3% higher than January 2005’s $1.26 billion.

“January 2006 bookings for North American-based semiconductor equipment providers are at the highest level since November of 2004,” says Stanley T. Myers, president and CEO of SEMI. “These year-end numbers reinforce the optimism in the capital equipment industry, and indicate continued momentum and steady growth for the year ahead.”