Philips Semiconductors to be renamed NXP

BANGALORE
 

SPETEMBER 4, 2006

Philips Electronics' chip unit that was hived off from the parent company
earlier this year would be christened NXP Semiconductors India. Following this
global development, the Indian subsidiary that was spun off as Philips
Semiconductors India would be renamed in October as NXP Semiconductors India.

The name change and new brand identity came about in an agreement made in
August 2006 between Royal Philips and a consortium of private equity firms
including Kohlberg Kravis Roberts and Co, Bain Capital, Silver Lake Partners,
Pax Partners and AlpInvest Partners, that will together take up 80.1 per cent
stake in the company's semiconductor business valued at Euro 8.3 billion.
Philips will retain the remaining 19.9 per cent stake of the semiconductor
business.

The new name NXP is an acronym that stands for Next Experience and the brand
promise of “Vibrant Media technologies,” say Philips executives.

“The semiconductor business is cyclical, volatile and a scale-driven
business that needs to find its future. The buy-out is the largest valuation for
a business of this size,” said K Ramachandran, CEO, Philips Electronics India
Ltd.

This global move will bring about changes in Philips' existing presence in
India. Around 50 employees from the company's semi-conductor vertical and 650
employees including engineers and the sales and marketing personnel working with
the semiconductor vertical of Philips' Innovation campus in Bangalore would
now be part of NXP. NXP would have its own campus at Hebbal in Bangalore where
an investment of Euro five million has already been committed this year. “This
will make NXP India's fourth largest semiconductor employer and the
company's third biggest center,” said Rajeev Mehtani, MD, NXP Semiconductors
India.

NXP India will offer solutions and technologies for automotive,
identification, digital home and MFD segments.

He said that The Asian market including greater China and India accounted for
66 per cent of the company's sales representing the largest market for the
company. While the sales growth in India is faster than China, the semiconductor
segment in India accounts for only one per cent of the global market. Philips is
the number one television chip supplier in India.

NXP's net sales last year was Euro 4.77 billion and is expected to touch
Euro six billion next fiscal.