According to the agreement the companies will promote MultiMediaCard as an industry standard. The co-operation comprises joint product specification and production of Flash MultiMediaCard products. Infineon Technologies and Hitachi between them have set up a second source relationship to successfully market Flash MultiMediaCard technology.

Infineon Technologies and Hitachi have developed a 16 MByte Flash MultiMediaCard by combining Infineon's MultiMediaCard interface expertise with Hitachi's "AND" type Flash memory, which is suitable for high density storage. Infineon*s innovative packaging technology enables stacking of two 16 MByte Flash dies in a single MultiMediaCard. These 32 MByte Flash MultiMediaCards will be available in the third quarter of 1999 with 64 MByte and 128 MByte Flash MultiMediaCards following in 2000 and 2001 respectively.
The companies have also agreed to continue their second source relationship for the next gen-eration of Flash MultiMediaCards with respect to product specification as well as production.

Speaking on the agreement, Tadashi Ishibashi, President and CEO, Semiconductor & Inte-grated Circuits of Hitachi, said "Combining Hitachi*s high density "AND" Flash memory technology and Infineon*s MultiMediaCard interface expertise will result in the world*s first single chip device that realises a high density, high speed and low cost MultiMediaCard for digital consumer applications. Both companies are committed to providing strong support and a stable supply of MultiMediaCards for customers in the multimedia age.

We are very pleased to be working closely with Infineon Technologies. The strengthening of our alliance will further improve the position of MultiMediaCard as the world*s leading Flash card."

Ulrich Hamann, President of product division Security and Chip Card ICs within Infineon Technologies, commented: "The MultiMediaCard business is much like that of Chip Card ICs. It takes some leading projects to grow. There are many synergies with chip cards on the secu-rity side where Infineon Technologies is the acknowledged market leader."

"Open markets are the driving factor for new technologies," declared Juergen Hammerschmitt, Vice President, Non-Volatile Storage ICs of Infineon Technologies. "Market success of mo-bile products that are interactive and compatible depends on both standardisation and co-operation of leading players. The Hitachi-Infineon partnership provides this new market with a strong commercial and technical foundation to the benefit of all MultiMediaCard customers. Infineon Technologies wants the co-operation to be open to value-adding third parties." By the year 2005, Infineon expects the world-wide market for MultiMediaCard products to exceed 2 billion US dollars.

MultiMediaCard is the world*s smallest solid state storage device, extremely rugged, light-weight, energy efficient, fast and cost-effective. Its integrated serial interface makes it easy to install. The MultiMediaCard is particularly suitable for use in portable applications such as mobile phones, pagers, laptops, automotive applications and industrial handheld devices as well as entertainment electronics such as digital cameras or solid state music players. The general specification of the MultiMediaCard has been standardised by the MultiMediaCard Association (MMCA) and future enhancements are under discussion. MultiMediaCard is soon expected to establish itself as the new industry standard for removable storage media.

MultiMediaCard(TM) is a trademark of Infineon Technologies AG.

About Infineon
	Infineon Technologies, formerly Siemens' Semiconductor Group, based in Munich, Germany, is the 10th largest semiconductor manufacturer worldwide according to Cahners In-Stat Group. Infineon provides semiconductor solutions for the telecommunications, automotive, data networking, consumer electronics, and industrial automation markets. The company's comprehensive product portfolio includes integrated system ICs, memory and high frequency components, chip card ICs, discrete semiconductors and power ICs, sensors and fiber optic components. In fiscal 1997/98, the com-pany achieved sales of $ 3.8 billion (DM 6.7 billion) and employed 25,000 people worldwide. Further information can be found on the Internet at http://www.infineon.com/
About Hitachi
	Hitachi Ltd., headquartered in Tokyo, Japan, is one of the world*s leading global electronics companies, with fiscal 1997 (ended March 31, 1998) consolidated sales of 8,417 billion yen ($ 63.8 billion). The company manufactures and markets a wide range of products, including computers, semiconductors, consumer products and power and industrial equipment. For more information on Hitachi Ltd. please visit Hitachi's website at http://www.hitachi.co.jp/ Please also see the website of MultiMediaCard Association http://www.mmca.org