Microtune hits 15mn TV tuner shipment milestone

PLANO, USA: Microtune Inc. has shipped more than one hundred fifty million MicroTuner chips, a landmark achievement that reaffirms the company’s position as the leading supplier of silicon TV tuner technology worldwide.

“We are pleased to be reaching this important milestone, and we share this achievement with our valued, and in many cases, long-term customers,” said James A. Fontaine, President and CEO of Microtune.

“We have consistently innovated groundbreaking technology aligned with our customers‘ needs, and we remain committed to their success by providing world-class service and support for our products. We take great pride in the fact that the Microtune brand has become synonymous with the highest levels of quality, reliability and price/performance.”

First adopted in the cable market, Microtune radio frequency (RF) technology catalyzed the industry migration from a 60-year-old tuner can to a miniaturized, state-of-the-art silicon TV tuner chip. In turn, Microtune’s technology drove, and continues to enable, a compelling suite of connected, interactive services in the cable market, including new ultra high-speed data, HD programming, digital video recording and on-demand capabilities.

Fontaine added: “We are excited by the opportunities for growth as market forces converge to drive the transition from can tuners to silicon ICs in the digital television and automotive entertainment markets. Manufacturers realize that they can benefit from the advantages of smaller and more cost-effective front-end IC technology as they propel their products to the next generation. Manufacturers also understand the value of Microtune’s corporate stability and track record of reliability to high-volume, global production.”

Microtune has a history of innovation in RF silicon technology that began in 2000 with the introduction of the industry‘s first single-chip silicon TV tuner.

This record of innovation has been maintained through the development of a diversified portfolio of performance-leading and customer-hardened front-end products that now include tuners, amplifiers, demodulators, fully integrated receivers, and RF-to-digital converters. Today, more than 80 US patents protect Microtune’s RF integrated-circuit technology and other inventions.

Fontaine added: “We continue to push the technology envelope even further with our new MicroCeiver and MicroDigitizer class of integrated tuner and digital signal products. Based on very small and cost-effective new architectures, these forward-looking front-end ICs enable RF signal reception in the next-stage evolution of digital audio, video and data products.”