PR releases

CSR has strong finish to 2007 with strong market share, continued revenue from diversification and strong momentum in product development

Cambridge, UK - 28 February 2008 - CSR (LSE: CSR) today announced its unaudited financial results for the quarter and its audited financial results for the 52 weeks ended 28 December 2007.

CSR saw its quarterly revenues in Q4, 2007 grow to $232.5m (Q4, 2006: $173.3m); whilst revenues for 2007 grew to $848.6m (2006: $704.7m). The company also saw its gross margin nudge up to 47.4% in Q4, 2007 (Q4 2006: 46.4%). CSR’s continued growth comes not only from a sustained strength in the traditional cellular handset and headset Bluetooth business but also increasingly from other non-cellular applications for Bluetooth and from non-Bluetooth business.

CSR also announced that it now regularly ships in excess of one million chips per day, and has the capacity to handle more. In spite of this volume, CSR remains consistently rated as one of the top three semiconductor companies in the world in terms of product quality, a fact that has been recognised by CSR’s most demanding customers in Japan, Korea, Europe and the US.

In non-Bluetooth technologies, CSR reported increased activity in customers for its embedded Wi-Fi technology (UniFi), progress with development of GPS technologies and with its next generation BlueCore Bluetooth silicon integrating both GPS and FM radios which has recently been returned from the foundry, tested and is working. In addition, CSR’s UItra Wide Band (UWB) product is reaching final development stages and is due to sample in H2, 2008.

Over and above its own chip development, CSR has agreed with Motorola to launch the EGPS Forum and has successfully demonstrated its eGPS (enhanced GPS) concept of hybrid navigation technologies at Mobile World Congress in February, highlighting CSR’s sustained commitment as well as showing the progress the company is making in bringing GPS to a wider range of applications including mobile phones.

Joep van Beurden, CEO of CSR, commented, "As the percentage of mobile phones with Bluetooth is now surpassing 50%, it makes sense to also use Bluetooth as a value centre on which to deliver additional functionality to improve the user experience. Some of these functions sit well with Bluetooth including GPS, FM and other wireless connectivity radios such as Ultra Low Power (ULP) Bluetooth or UWB. The strength of our Bluetooth offering gives us a powerful platform on which to address phone makers’ needs to embed improved audio processing capabilities".

CSR expects to be shipping a single-chip product by the end of 2008 that incorporates Bluetooth, GPS (including the radio), FM transmit and receive, and ULP Bluetooth. CSR is already shipping its BlueCore5-FM, single-chip Bluetooth with embedded FM radio, in volume and is securing CSR some significant design wins, including handsets from LG, Samsung and BenQ. In Q3 2007, CSR launched BlueCore6, which offers the best Bluetooth performance and power consumption on the market. BlueCore6 integrates CSR’s proprietary AuriStream technology for toll quality voice, and the chip is already seeing significant design-in activity including a design-win at a top tier customer.

In the Bluetooth headset market, CSR believes that it has won over 80% of the designs wins in 2007 and saw 100 percent year on year growth in Quarter 4 in its design wins with tier one customers. The company recently secured headset wins with Sony and Samsung and has a strong pipeline of new CSR headset products to launch soon, fortifying its dominance of this market.

In non-cellular applications, where chips generally have more exacting specifications and average selling prices are often higher, CSR has seen particular traction in the MP3/PMP markets including the new Sony Walkman range and the Ramos MP3 player in China. CSR’s internet radio design, RadioPro, has also been adopted by Intempo for its Daisy radio which is due to be available in shops soon. CSR also recently launched digital photo frame designs with Telechips, using CSR’s Wi-Fi technology, and Cheertek. Park Associates forecasts the digital photo frame market will reach over 12 million units by 2010.

Automotive applications continue to be an area for growth and CSR’s Bluetooth technology was designed into the heart of the Ford Sync, the in-car infotainment system. CSR’s BlueCore5-Multimedia product is also now being integrated into new build cars including systems from Toyota. The penetration of Bluetooth in new build cars is exceeding 10 percent and this market is also expected to continue growing.

For 2008, CSR sees modest revenue growth in the second half of the year, following what is predicted to be broadly flat revenues for the first half of 2008 compared to the first half of 2007.

About CSR

CSR is the leading global provider of personal wireless technology and its product portfolio covers Bluetooth, GPS, FM and Wi-Fi (IEEE802.11). CSR offers developed hardware/software solutions, based around its silicon platforms, that incorporate fully integrated radio, baseband and microcontroller elements.

CSR’s customers include industry leaders such as Apple, Dell, LG, Motorola, NEC, Nokia, Panasonic, RIM, Samsung, Sharp, Sony, TomTom and Toshiba.

CSR has its headquarters and offices in Cambridge, UK, and offices in Japan, Korea, Taiwan, China, India, France, Denmark, Sweden and both Dallas and Detroit in the USA.

More information can be found at http://www.csr.com