HOD HASHARON, Israel, April 22 /PRNewswire/ -- Altair Semiconductor, a fabless chip company developing the world's most advanced 4G mobile semiconductors for handheld devices, announced that its FourGee(TM)-4150 chipset powered today's 4G wireless network demonstration by WILLCOM, Japan's largest PHS technology operator. The live demonstration recorded extremely high simultaneous over-the-air throughput rates of 19Mbps down and 12Mbps up on the WILLCOM XGP network. This is the highest performance demonstrated on any commercial mobile broadband network in Japan -- including WiMAX or HSDPA.

"WILLCOM's network performance demonstration is a significant milestone in the development of advanced 4G wireless networks, and Altair is proud to have been WILLCOM's chip supplier for the demonstration and the leading chip supplier for their current XGP network rollout," said Oded Melamed, CEO of Altair Semiconductor. "The results of this test are a strong testimony to the ultra-high performance of Altair's multi-mode 4G architecture."

Altair has partnered with WILLCOM since May of 2008, when the company was selected to supply chipsets for wireless devices operating on WILLCOM's XGP network in Japan. Since then, Altair and its ecosystem partners have proven that it is possible to achieve exceptional speed while keeping the power consumption lower than alternative 3.5G technologies.

In addition to providing chipsets for WILLCOM's XGP network, Altair has been shipping a mobile WiMAX chipset, the FourGee(TM)-2150, and is in a very advanced development stage of an LTE baseband and RF chipset. Altair's LTE chipset, like its mobile WiMAX and XGP products, focuses on combining high performance with extreme power efficiency, small size and cost effectiveness.

About Altair Semiconductor

Altair is the world's leading developer of ultra-low power, small footprint and high performance 4G semiconductors that take broadband bandwidth beyond notebooks and USB adaptors to un-tethered, battery-operated handheld devices. The company's products provide handheld device manufacturers integrating 4G technologies into their products with a highly power-optimized, robust and cost-effective solution. Altair is privately held and has raised a total of $48M in three rounds of financing from investors, including Bessemer Venture Partners, BRM Capital, ETV Capital, Giza Venture Capital, Jerusalem Venture Partners, and Pacific Technology Fund. The company was awarded the Best of WiMAX World 2008 Chip Design Award for the ALT2150, Altair's mobile WiMAX baseband processor.

For more information, visit www.altair-semi.com.

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