2000

Aug.2, 2000

Minebea and analog devices of the U.S. to tie up for resolver/rd converter business for the automotive market

  Minebea Co., Ltd. (hereinafter "Minebea"/Registered head office in Miyota-machi, Kitasaku-gun, Nagano, Japan), a comprehensive manufacturer of miniature ball bearings and precision components including HDD spindle motors, and Analog Devices, Inc. (hereinafter "Analog Devices"/Headquartered in Massachusetts, the U.S.A., NYSE:ADI), a leading manufacturer of precision high-performance integrated circuits used in analog and digital signal processing applications, entered into a tie-up on July 10, 2000 concerning joint product/market development of resolvers/resolver-to-digital converters (R/D converters) for automotive and industrial applications.

Under the tie-up, Analog Devices will develop, in collaboration with Minebea, low-cost R/D converters based on the most advanced technology to supply exclusively to Minebea. With Minebea having completed the development of resolvers for automotive applications, the tie-up of these two companies will make it possible to offer resolvers and R/D converters at price ranges low enough to be affordable for automotive applications. Being so expensive, resolvers and R/D converters to date have found limited applications, but are expected to quickly come into widespread use in the future.

With particular attention at an earlier stage on higher-precision control and energy-efficiency motors for automotive, machine tool and robot applications, Minebea and Analog Devices have been independently engaged in product and market development. Both companies share the belief that resolvers and R/D converters, or digital signal processing (DSP) technology that controls motors by signals from R/D converters, have enormous potentialities.

Especially in the automotive market, there is an increasing need for high-precision and highly reliable rotation angle sensors owing to the proliferation of electric power steering, the emergence of hybrid electric vehicles and the ongoing development of integrated starters/alternators (generators) by automakers and automotive parts makers. These devices, aiming at environmental friendliness and safety, are based on the technologies that will be dominant in automobile production in the future and are stimulating the need to adopt resolvers.

Resolvers, a kind of rotation angle sensors, are at work as the most reliable rotation angle sensors in aerospace and other applications that are exposed to severe environmental conditions. They are similar to AC motors in structure and give sine and cosine output signals in response to AC excitation. R/D converters compute rotation angle and rotation velocity at a high speed from these analog signals, and convert this information into digital signals for control systems.

Minebea has been producing and selling resolvers for use in aircraft since 1970. The company has newly developed resolvers for automotive applications and been shipping samples since last year. These new resolvers are robust and made up of a far smaller number of parts than that of those used in conventional resolvers. In the meantime, Analog Devices has been a leading manufacturer of the high performance R/D converters.

Minebea and Analog Devices plan to launch, in November 2000, production of low-cost R/D converters that are now under development in accordance with the product development agreement concluded prior to the current business tie-up agreement. Both parties have agreed to jointly conduct a market research for five years to develop the new generation of products.

New products we have in mind include R/D converters designed for specific purposes, motor control integrated circuits with peripheral functions primarily including DSP core, and high performance motors and sensor systems based on resolver-applied technology.

< About Minebea >

Minebea is a comprehensive manufacturer of precision components such as ball bearings, small motors, and keyboards that are indispensable to information & telecommunications equipment including PCs as well as to household electrical appliances, aircraft, and automobiles. The company has 35 manufacturing bases and 70 sales offices in 17 countries. Based largely on manufacturing plants in Thailand that form the largest manufacturing center, it features a thoroughly integrated manufacturing system extending from machining to assembly of components and supplies its products to customers worldwide.

< Analog Devices >

With revenues of $1.1 billion for the first half of fiscal 2000, Analog Devices is a leading manufacturer of precision high-performance integrated circuits used in analog and digital signal processing applications. Headquartered in Norwood, Massachusetts, the company employs approximately 8,200 people worldwide and has manufacturing facilities in Massachusetts, California, North Carolina, Ireland, the Philippines and Taiwan. Analog Devices' stock is listed on the New York Stock Exchange and the company is included in the S&P 500 index.

For further information and inquiries, please contact:

Minebea Co., Ltd.
Corporate Communications Office, Corporate Planning Department
Yasuaki Miyahara
TEL: 03-5434-8637
FAX: 03-5434-8607
E-mai: ymiyahar@minebea.co.jp

Analog Devices, Inc.
Manager, Corporate/Marketing Communication
Mari Sugata
TEL: 03-5402-8224
FAX: 03-5402-1064
E-mail: mari.sugata@adj.analog.com

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