Xicor Acquires Poweready Inc.

Xicor Inc. recently signed a definitive agreement to acquire Poweready Inc. of San Diego, Calif. The negotiated price of $15.0 million is comprised of stock, cash and contingent consideration if certain performance milestones are met in 2004 through 2006.

Poweready, a private company, designs, develops and manufactures charging systems for SMBus battery management applications. The company has developed substantial intellectual property in Level 1, 2 and 3 charging as well as SMBus 1.1 compliant battery management, charging, safety circuit, fuel gauging and cell balancing solutions, which maximize the efficiency of batteries.

According to Xicor president and CEO, Lou DiNardo, “The acquisition of Poweready Inc. will provide Xicor the intellectual property and customer relationships necessary to expand our presence and penetrate the explosive area of smart battery management. Our existing solutions for 3-cell and 4-cell lithium ion and lithium polymer battery systems have been successful in notebook computing and portable test, measurement and medical equipment in part because of our relationship with Poweready and their understanding of the rechargeable battery market.”

For more information, visit www.xicor.com.