GCT Semiconductor Raises $20 million in Series D Funding
New funding underscores investor confidence in the Company's proprietary
RF CMOS design expertise for use in ICs for current and next-generation mobile handsets.
December 13, 2004 - San Jose, CA -- GCT Semiconductor, Inc., a leading provider of highly integrated semiconductor solutions for wireless communications, today announced the closing of its $20 million Series D round of financing. Led by Samsung Venture Investment Corporation (SVIC), the round also includes strategic investment from UTStarcom, Inc., with both companies investing after careful evaluation of GCT's product portfolio. Other investors in this round include East Gate Capital, Bokwang Investment Partnership, AT Ventures, KGI Partners, and Nexus Investment Corp. Two of the Company's primary financial investors, Parakletos Ventures and Pequot Capital, also participated in the financing.
The new capital will be used to continue expansion of the Company's manufacturing capabilities and to ramp up for production volume manufacturing of the Company's PHS and GSM/GPRS radio-frequency (RF) transceivers for worldwide markets. In addition, the funds will be used to continue development of innovative new products based on GCT's proprietary complementary metal-oxide semiconductor (CMOS) RF technology, specifically focusing on the mobile handset markets for second and third-generation mobile wireless systems, including W-CDMA and EDGE.
Jay Eum, Managing Director of Samsung Ventures America, who will join GCT's board of directors, stated, "Our strategic investment in GCT Semiconductor represents Samsung's view that RF CMOS represents the way of things to come in RF transceiver design, and GCT Semiconductor's leading edge RF competencies today will pave the way for tomorrow's ever demanding cost effective mobile handsets."
"We are very pleased with the successful closing of this round of financing, which is evidence of investors' strong confidence in our RF CMOS technology for mobile handsets. Already, our RF transceiver ICs have been designed-in to several of our strategic partners' applications," commented Dr. Kyeongho Lee, President and CEO of GCT Semiconductor. "We believe this new investment will allow us to strengthen these strategic relationships as well as rapidly expand our global mobile handset business."
"UTStarcom is excited to participate in this Series D round of financing as GCT will be an important strategic partner in the future," commented Bill Huang, CTO of UTStarcom.
About UTStarcom, Inc.
UTStarcom is a global leader in IP access networking solutions and international service and support. The company sells its wireline, wireless, optical and switching solutions to operators in both fast growth and established telecommunications markets around the world. UTStarcom enables its customers to rapidly deploy revenue-generating access services using their existing infrastructure, while providing a migration path to cost-efficient end-to-end IP networks. Founded in 1991 and headquartered in Alameda, California, the company has research and design operations in New Jersey, China, and India. UTStarcom is a FORTUNE 1000 company. For more information about UTStarcom, visit the company's Web site at www.utstar.com.
About GCT Semiconductor, Inc.
GCT Semiconductor is a leading fabless semiconductor company that produces innovative integrated circuit solutions for the wireless communications industry. With its proven radio frequency (RF) CMOS and system-on-a-chip (SOC) expertise, GCT provides state-of-the-art single-chip CMOS RF transceivers, mobile digital TV receivers and Mobile WiMAX solutions serving 3G and 4G mobile system manufacturers by reducing BOM cost, lowering power consumption and minimizing total solution size. For more information, please visit www.gctsemi.com.