GCT Semiconductor Commercializes World's first highly integrated CMOS Single-chip Tuner for Mobile TV Applications
SAN JOSE, California, February 8, 2006 - GCT Semiconductor, Inc., a leader in innovative integrated circuit solutions for the wireless communications industry, today announced the industry's first highly integrated CMOS single-chip mobile TV tuner for handheld devices to combine three key functions into one: the RF tuner, channel decoder and the controller. The new ultra-low power GDM7001 is currently in production with a top handset manufacturer in Korea and plays a key role in reducing component cost, lowering power consumption, and minimizing footprint by as much as 50 percent. GDM7001 is specifically optimized to support the Korean S-DMB and Japanese MSB mobile broadcast handsets.
The highly integrated GDM7001 targets handheld devices such as mobile phones, PDAs, in-vehicle applications, and other multimedia convergence devices. This cutting-edge chip allows viewing of clear and crisp multi-channel broadcast TV at a speed up to 300 km/h for up to three hours on a single battery charge, significantly adding battery-life of handheld devices. The tuner's clever engineering enables users to enjoy high quality, reliable, full-motion real-time digital TV programming for longer periods of time.
"The new GDM7001 highlights GCT Semiconductor's commitment to delivering innovative and highly integrated CMOS single-chip solutions to our customers in wireless handset markets," said Dr. Kyeongho Lee, CEO of GCT Semiconductor, Inc. "Form factor and cost are key factors for mobile TV functionality and this new product offers handset designers for the first time the integration of three functions into one, thereby lowering the number of components required and saving cost as well as space. We believe that by using GCT Semiconductor's innovative RF CMOS and single-chip design technology, the new GDM7001 reduces size by as much as half compared to existing solutions, meeting the growing demands for handset manufacturers to produce competitive slim phone designs."
Housed in a 144-pin Low-profile, Fine-pitch Ball Grid Array (LFBGA), GDM7001 measures 9mm x 9mm x 1.3mm . A single clock at 32.768MHz enables both RF and CDM, thereby cutting down the total material cost. Lee commented, "We believe GDM7001 ensures the implementation of the best reception performance by adopting GCT Semiconductor's proprietary algorithm for mobile broadcast reception, combating the hostile wireless environment. With our single-chip solution, the consumer enjoys the ultimate benefits: improved portability, convenience-of-use and high performance."
In the near future, GCT Semiconductor plans to combine its proven RF CMOS expertise with state-of-the-art innovative modem technologies to develop and market single-chip tuners for other mobile TV standards. GDM7001 is currently deployed in satellite DMB phones in Korea and Japan. Portable TV solutions and several in-vehicle applications using GCT Semiconductor's latest innovation are expected to be launched in the market place later this year.
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.