Xilinx Flagship Spartan FPGA Platform at the Heart of ASTRI Dynamic Backlight Control Technology for Today's Flat Panel LCD Televisions

HONG KONG, Nov. 3 /PRNewswire/ -- Xilinx Inc., (Nasdaq: XLNX), the world's leading provider of programmable logic solutions, today announced that Hong Kong Applied Science and Technology Research Institute (ASTRI) has incorporated Xilinx® flagship Spartan®-3A FPGAs into the design of its leading edge dynamic LED backlight control technology for flat panel LCD televisions. With Spartan at the heart of the system, ASTRI offers manufacturers of next-generation LCD TVs sharper video image quality and lower power consumption over competing solutions. Because Spartan-3A FPGAs are inherently flexible, ASTRI can tailor its technology to the exact power and performance needs of its customers, each of whom demands low cost, competitive differentiation and fast time-to-market.

(Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20020822/XLNXLOGO)

Dynamic LED backlighting provides LCD TVs with sharper picture quality and overall lower power consumption than TVs of the previous generations. ASTRI estimates that more than three million LCD TVs with dynamic backlight control will be sold worldwide by the end of 2009. The institute expects the market will skyrocket over the next half-dozen years, and plans to help its customers to command the lion's share of this emerging market. Since 2004, the majority of leading LCD TV manufacturers have employed dynamic backlight control techniques in their products; however, the technology and customer requirements continue to evolve. New entrants to the LCD TV market seek to carve out a competitive advantage over dominant players by getting to market faster with better image quality and lower power consumption.

"Xilinx Spartan-3 Generation FPGAs allow ASTRI's dynamic LED backlight control technology to become more flexible in meeting different customers' differentiation requirements," said Dr. C.J. Tsai, Director, Display System Division, LED Programme, ASTRI. "In the LCD television market, where the race to develop new products is intense, faster time-to-market is key to business success. Xilinx FPGAs offered us greater flexibility to customize our application with lower system costs, and significantly reduced our product development time. The extensive support provided by Xilinx and the strong technical support offered by its distribution sales team Avnet Memec China were the other factors that prompted us to choose Xilinx FPGAs over competing solutions."

"Our Spartan series FPGAs offer an unmatched combination of low power, high performance and low cost, which has made them the number one choice for LCD TV manufacturers around the world for multiple generations," added Clement Cheung, Marketing and Application Director for Xilinx Asia Pacific. "As the worldwide PLD industry leader, Xilinx and Avnet are proud to partner with ASTRI to bring innovative technology to the quickly evolving flat panel display market."

About Xilinx Flagship Spartan FPGAs
Xilinx flagship Spartan FPGAs are the low-power, low-cost silicon foundation for Xilinx Targeted Design Platforms. The company's next-generation Spartan-6 FPGAs are designed for cost-sensitive applications requiring high-speed connectivity and low-power operation with embedded serial transceivers, advanced power management, and proven 45-nanometer architecture. Domain-optimized devices provide a rich mix of integrated system features including memory controllers, digital signal processing, and PCIe® Endpoint block, as well as RoHS-compliant lead-free package options for developing 'greener' electronics products. For more information about Spartan FPGAs, visit: www.xilinx.com/spartan6 or www.xilinx.com/spartan3a.

Designers can learn more about Xilinx Targeted Design Platforms by attending X-fest, a global series of free technical seminars sponsored by Avnet and Xilinx. These free one-day seminars offer practical training for engineers. To register for an X-fest event, visit http://www.weboom.com/avnet/index.html.

About ASTRI
The Hong Kong Applied Science and Technology Research Institute (ASTRI) was founded by the Government of Hong Kong Special Administrative Region in 2000 to enhance technological advances for Hong Kong through applied research. In 2006, ASTRI was designated the Hong Kong Research and Development Centre for Information and Communications Technologies by the Innovation and Technology Commission to perform leading-edge research and development (R&D) for technology transfer to industry, develop technological human resources and act as a focal point bringing together industry and university R&D assets.

During the past few years, ASTRI has been conducting a spectrum of world-class and customer-focused R&D, and has built teams of excellent researchers, produced a volume of intellectual properties and created real economic impact by transferring technologies to its clients in Hong Kong, the Mainland and the region. For more information, please visit www.astri.org

About Avnet Electronics Marketing Asia
Avnet Electronics Marketing Asia is part of Phoenix-based Avnet, Inc. (NYSE: AVT), a Fortune 500 company with fiscal 2009 sales exceeding USD16.23 billion. Serving customers in more than 70 countries, Avnet is one of the largest distributors of electronic components, computer products and embedded technology.

Avnet Electronics Marketing has a significant presence in Asia-Pacific - the fastest growing electronics market in the world. With its regional headquarters in Singapore, the company has offices in over 40 locations in Asia. Avnet Electronics Marketing Asia distributes semiconductors, interconnect, passive and electromechanical components to serve a wide range of customers including original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), electronic manufacturing services (EMS) providers, and small- to medium-sized businesses, and provides associated design-chain and supply-chain services. The company's web site is located at www.em.avnetasia.com.

About Xilinx
Xilinx is the worldwide leader in complete programmable logic solutions. For more information, visit www.xilinx.com.

#0955c

XILINX, the Xilinx logo, Virtex, Spartan, ISE, and other designated brands included herein are trademarks of Xilinx in the United States and other countries. PCI-SIG, PCI, PCIe and PCI Express are trademarks of PCI-SIG and used under license. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

    Editorial Contacts:
    Melissa Zhang
    Xilinx Asia Pacific
    (86) 10-6268-2899 ext. 806
    melissa.zhang@xilinx.com