SAN JOSE, California, April 8 /PRNewswire/ --

- Atmel's QTouch Technology wins in Capacitive Touchscreen Controller ICs Category

Atmel(R) Corporation (Nasdaq: ATML) today announced that its multi-touch devices, the AT42QT5320 and AT42QT5480 have been awarded the 2008 Product of the Year by the influential electronics magazine, Electronic Products China (EPC). Atmel's devices for genuine dual-finger touch were selected by EPC's highly experienced judging panel in the Capacitive Touchscreen Controller ICs category.

The AT42QT5320 and AT42QT5480 devices were deemed to meet and exceed the strict judging criteria set by EPC. Award winning products had to address three key questions. Does the product display significant progress in technology and applications? Does the product contain innovative design? Does the product offer improved features and price advantages compared to similar products?

The award winning devices were launched in October 2008. Chris Ard, Director of Marketing for Atmel Touch Products commented, Our new multi-touch devices give industrial designers the opportunity to incorporate next generation, cost effective user interfaces into their new product developments with ease. To support this activity our End-to-End reference designs help speed the development cycle. Chris Ard went on to add, These new products overcome many of the limitations of traditional resistive and capacitive touchscreen technologies. Also with our single layer ITO solutions, customers can achieve excellent performance at a very competitive price.

The AT42QT5320 and AT42QT5480 devices are part of Atmel's family of charge-transfer, capacitive touchscreen controller ICs and are targeted at some of the highest growth areas of the electronics market, such as mobile phones and other personal electronics. Atmel, with millions of custom touchscreen solutions shipped over the past few years, offers highly reliable standard Two Touch(TM) and Single Touch touchscreen controllers. Together with partners, the company also offers complete touchscreen solutions for the most common screen sizes, including the chips and sensors, typically implemented as ITO on PET or glass.

Commenting on winning the award, Chris Ard said, We are very proud that one of our product offerings has received industry recognition from EPC. It is particularly pleasing that respected members of China's electronic design community have selected our multi-touch devices for this prestigious award. Chris Ard concluded, At Atmel, we always strive to provide our clients with integrated solutions to help simplify their designs. This EPC Product of the Year award endorses Atmel's leadership in the development and fabrication of advanced semiconductor solutions.

About Atmel

Atmel is a worldwide leader in the design and manufacture of microcontrollers, advanced logic, mixed-signal, nonvolatile memory and radio frequency (RF) components. Leveraging one of the industry's broadest intellectual property (IP) technology portfolios, Atmel is able to provide the electronics industry with complete system solutions focused on consumer, industrial, security, communications, computing and automotive markets.

(c) 2009 Atmel Corporation. All Rights Reserved. Atmel(R), Atmel logo and combinations thereof, and others, are registered trademarks, QTouch(TM), Two Touch(TM) and others are trademarks of Atmel Corporation or its subsidiaries. Other terms and product names may be trademarks of others.

Information:

Atmel's touchscreen product information may be retrieved at, www.atmel.com/touchscreen

For further information on touch technology products, visit www.atmel.com

Press Contacts: Chris Ard, Director of Marketing - Touch technology division Tel: +44-23-8056-5600, Email: chris.ard@atmel.com Helen Perlegos, Public Relations Tel: +1-408-487-2963, Email: helen.perlegos@atmel.com Asia Press Contacts: Claire Walker / Karrie Lee, Techworks Asia Ltd. Tel: +852-2525-3980 Email: claire@techworksasia.com / karrie@techworksasia.com

Chris Ard, Director of Marketing - Touch technology division, +44-23-8056-5600, chris.ard@atmel.com, or Helen Perlegos, Public Relations, +1-408-487-2963, helen.perlegos@atmel.com, both of Atmel Corporation; or Asia Press Contacts, Claire Walker, claire@techworksasia.com, or Karrie Lee, karrie@techworksasia.com, both of Techworks Asia Ltd., +852-2525-3980