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SHANGHAI, May 5 /PRNewswire-Asia-FirstCall/ -- Spreadtrum
Communications, Inc. (Nasdaq: SPRD,
the "Company"), one of China''s leading wireless baseband chipset
providers, today announced that its Chinese subsidiary, Spreadtrum
Communications (Shanghai) Co., Ltd., has received RMB 300 million
(approximately $44 million) of new financing from a Chinese bank in the form of
a fixed term loan.
The bank loan is unsecured and is for a term of 3 years. Interest on
borrowings will be initially set at 5.4% annually, to be reset annually at the
then benchmark applicable rate as set by the People''s Bank of China. The
interest on borrowings under this bank loan will be mostly covered by Chinese
government subsidy funds.
"We very much appreciate and are excited to receive this nearly
interest-free financing. This indicates the Chinese government''s strong support
and high confidence in Spreadtrum to develop semiconductor products in 2nd and
3rd generation wireless communications in the Chinese market. We plan to use
our borrowings under the loan to increase R&D investment in our GSM and
TD-SCDMA projects and to expand our IC operations in China. With our
strengthened financial position, we are more confident in our ability to
overcome the difficulties caused by the current worldwide economic and
financial crisis and do not expect to need to raise additional funds in the
near future," said Dr. Leo Li, president and chief executive officer of
Spreadtrum Communications, Inc.
About Spreadtrum
Communications, Inc.:
Spreadtrum Communications, Inc. (NASDAQ: SPRD;
the "Company") is a fabless semiconductor company that designs,
develops, and markets baseband processor solutions for the mobile wireless
communications market. The Company combines its semiconductor design expertise
with its software development capabilities to deliver highly-integrated
baseband processors with multimedia functionality and power management. The
Company has developed its solutions based on an open development platform,
enabling its customers to develop customized wireless products that are
feature-rich and meet their cost and time-to-market requirements.
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