Akustica Ships 2 Millionth CMOS MEMS Digital Microphone

PITTSBURGH, PA--(Marketwire) - Akustica, pioneer in system-on-chip acoustic systems, announced that it has shipped its two-millionth digital microphone.

Akustica's two-millionth microphone shipped just three months after its one-millionth microphone. Akustica had reached the one-million mark 15 months after the launch of its first digital microphone, the award-winning AKU2000. Strong market demand for high-quality voice input in mobile PCs has led Akustica to introduce three more digital microphones and rapidly ramp overall production to satisfy customer demand.

Akustica's complementary metal-oxide semiconductor (CMOS) microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) microphones can be manufactured in any CMOS foundry, leveraging the high-volume capabilities, quality and economies of scale of the global semiconductor market. This is the fundamental reason why Akustica has been able to ramp its production rate so quickly.

"This is no ordinary supply-chain achievement," remarked Dr. Kaigham Gabriel, Akustica's Chairman, chief technologist and co-founder. "By making our microphones in standard CMOS foundries, we can scale manufacturing with unprecedented speed and quality. This allows our customers to integrate a new, differentiating technology into a wider array of products, accommodating the compressed design-to-delivery cycles of PCs and consumer electronics."

Akustica's "milestone microphone" went to computer-maker Fujitsu Computer Systems Corporation, which has designed Akustica's products into its LifeBook notebooks and convertible tablet PCs.

"The value of clear voice for either VoIP or annotating and recording is critical to many mobile users," said Paul Moore, Sr. Director of Mobile Product Marketing, Fujitsu Computer Systems Corporation. "Embedding Akustica digital mics ensures a realistic and static-free audio experience."

Dr. Gabriel also shared that production shows no signs of slowing and will be driven both by the 2008 platforms of the top PC manufacturers and by upcoming Akustica products that are specifically designed for the cell phone market.

About Akustica
Akustica is the leading supplier of digital-output microphone products that are improving voice input quality in a host of voice-enabled applications, from Internet telephony on notebooks to PC camera modules and mobile phones. Customers include Dell, Fujitsu, Gateway and NEC.

Since Akustica microphones were introduced last year, the semiconductor industry has recognized Akustica's CMOS MEMS technology with accolades and honors, including an EDN Innovation award, an Electronics Products Magazine "Product of the Year" award, and most significant Leapfrog technology of the year from Electronic Design readers.

More information about the company is available at the Akustica Web site or by calling 412-390-1730.

Akustica and the Akustica logo are registered trademarks of Akustica, Inc. All other product and company names are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective holders.

Fujitsu and LifeBook are trademarks or registered trademarks of Fujitsu Limited in the United States and other countries.