Telegent Ships 80 Million Mobile TV Chips Globally

SUNNYVALE, Calif., May 6 /PRNewswire/ -- Telegent Systems, the company that makes television mobile, today announced that continuing growth in demand for its free-to-air mobile TV receivers has propelled it beyond a milestone of 80 million units shipped since it first launched its mobile TV receiver technology in mid-2007.  Telegent leads the market for mobile TV receivers.  Analyst firm Forward Concepts estimates that 78 million broadcast TV handsets were shipped globally in 2009.

"We have seen very rapid adoption of free-to-air TV handsets incorporating Telegent's technology in emerging markets," said Samuel Sheng, Telegent's president and chief executive officer.  "Consumers globally have demonstrated that they place high value on the ability to receive live broadcast television on mobile devices."

Telegent is now leveraging its success of the last two years to broaden its product portfolio of 'converged TV' solutions.  "We are continuing to invest in the leading-edge performance of our free-to-air mobile TV receivers," said Sheng.  "We are developing silicon solutions for new geographies and exploring new forms of delivery and new methods of interaction with television content.  We plan to drive growth both through engineering investment and through acquisition."

In preparation for continuing organizational growth, Sheng has asked Telegent's board of directors to begin the search for his successor, following which he will resume the role of chief technology officer in order to concentrate on further developing and expanding Telegent's technology platform.  Sheng will continue in his current leadership position during the search.  In addition, Telegent has withdrawn its registration statement for an initial public offering.  Sheng commented, "We are able to pursue our growth and diversification goals with the working capital generated from our operations as a private company, and are choosing to invest in the technology and leadership that will carry us forward before we enter the public market."

Currently Telegent counts among its customers more than 100 device manufacturers, including a top three global handset manufacturer, two of the top five mobile handset manufacturers in Taiwan, and eight of the top ten design houses in China.  These customers are shipping handsets and other consumer devices incorporating Telegent's mobile TV technology to markets around the world, including Southeast Asia, Latin America, Eastern Europe/CIS, the Middle East, Africa and India.

About Telegent Systems, Inc.

Telegent Systems is a fabless semiconductor company that enables the reception of live, free-to-air analog and digital broadcast television in mobile handsets and other portable consumer devices.  Telegent's television-on-a-chip solutions solve the long-standing technical challenges that have precluded mobile reception of analog broadcast TV, enabling manufacturers and operators to benefit from the convergence of broadcast TV with mobile and portable devices.  Telegent's products are the most widely sold broadcast television solutions for mobile handsets in the world.  For more information, visit www.telegent.com.

SOURCE Telegent Systems, Inc.