December 3, 2012, Seoul - Infineon Technologies (CEO Lee Seung-soo, Korea) has delivered its 100 millionth TriCore™ microcontroller. With this achievement, TriCore™ has established itself as one of the most successful microcontrollers in the automotive electronics field. Infineon's TriCore-based microcontrollers are used in more than 50 automotive brands. Statistically, this means that one out of every two cars currently being produced contains a TriCore-based microcontroller. TriCore™ plays an important role in minimizing fuel consumption and exhaust emissions.

TriCore-based microcontrollers are used in central control units for combustion engines and gearboxes to control fuel injection, ignition, and exhaust gas recirculation. Their use in hybrid and electric vehicle drives is also increasing. Other applications include body control as well as electric steering, braking, and chassis control. TriCore is also being used in areas not related to the automotive field, such as system control, solar inverters, and electric motor control.

Peter Schäfer, Vice President overseeing the Microcontroller Business Division of Infineon Technologies, stated: "Infineon's flash-embedded TriCore microcontrollers have been produced for engine control units since 2005. Without microcontrollers, vehicles cannot be as efficient, environmentally friendly, and safe as they are today. We are very proud of the fact that we are contributing to the automotive industry. Infineon's TriCore-based 32-bit microcontrollers for automotive powertrain and chassis applications have established themselves as the best products currently available on the market through their high data processing performance and real-time performance."

TriCore Overview
TriCore was developed by Infineon. TriCore is the CPU (Central Processing Unit) of Infineon's 32-bit microcontroller, similar to the brain of a microcontroller or the CPU of a computer. However, since a single semiconductor contains programs, working memory, interfaces, and storage, a microcontroller can be considered a complete computer. Unlike computers, microcontrollers must provide reliable service over periods of more than 10 years while withstanding strong vibrations and accelerations as well as environmental conditions varying in the range of -40°C to 170°C (details are provided in itemized temperature profiles).

TriCore is a 32-bit microcontroller architecture optimized for embedded real-time systems. It integrates real-time performance, signal processing capabilities, and highly efficient application-specific interface functions. Because the core includes a superscalar processor, it can process many different instructions simultaneously. The instruction set includes special arithmetic operations for efficient calculation of complex algorithms. TriCore microcontrollers are optimized for automotive applications, that is, over a temperature range from -40°C to 170°C, through high data transfer rates and real-time performance.

Infineon Used in All Vehicles
In addition to engine management and transmission control systems, Infineon chips are used in airbags, driver assistance systems, electronic steering support, ABS, ESP (Electronic Stability Program), pedestrian protection, tire pressure control, electronic power windows, lighting control, heating, ventilation, air conditioning systems, seat adjustment, and keyless door lock/unlock.

During 2011, approximately 75 million vehicles were produced, of which 20 million were produced in Europe. On average, each vehicle contains chips worth approximately $300. Infineon is one of the world's largest automotive electronics chip manufacturers with a 10% market share and the largest chip manufacturer in Europe (15% market share). In 2011, the total automotive chip market was estimated at approximately $23 billion (Source: market research firm Strategy Analytics, April 2011 data). In the global microcontroller market for engine management and transmission control units, Infineon holds more than 30% market share.

Additional Information
Additional technical information about Infineon's microcontrollers is available at:
www.infineon.com/tricore and www.infineon.com/aurix
Information about Infineon's semiconductor solutions for automotive electronics is available at:
www.infineon.com/automotive