Xilinx Flagship Spartan FPGA Platform at the Heart of ASTRI Dynamic Backlight Control Technology for Today's Flat Panel LCD Televisions

Xilinx Flagship Spartan FPGA Platform at the Heart of ASTRI Dynamic Backlight
Control Technology for Today's Flat Panel LCD Televisions

HONG KONG, Nov. 3 /PRNewswire/ -- Xilinx Inc., (Nasdaq: XLNX), the world's
leading provider of programmable logic solutions, today announced that Hong
Kong Applied Science and Technology Research Institute (ASTRI) has
incorporated Xilinx® flagship Spartan®-3A FPGAs into the design of its leading
edge dynamic LED backlight control technology for flat panel LCD televisions.
With Spartan at the heart of the system, ASTRI offers manufacturers of
next-generation LCD TVs sharper video image quality and lower power
consumption over competing solutions. Because Spartan-3A FPGAs are inherently
flexible, ASTRI can tailor its technology to the exact power and performance
needs of its customers, each of whom demands low cost, competitive
differentiation and fast time-to-market.

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Dynamic LED backlighting provides LCD TVs with sharper picture quality and
overall lower power consumption than TVs of the previous generations. ASTRI
estimates that more than three million LCD TVs with dynamic backlight control
will be sold worldwide by the end of 2009. The institute expects the market
will skyrocket over the next half-dozen years, and plans to help its customers
to command the lion's share of this emerging market. Since 2004, the majority
of leading LCD TV manufacturers have employed dynamic backlight control
techniques in their products; however, the technology and customer
requirements continue to evolve. New entrants to the LCD TV market seek to
carve out a competitive advantage over dominant players by getting to market
faster with better image quality and lower power consumption.

"Xilinx Spartan-3 Generation FPGAs allow ASTRI's dynamic LED backlight control
technology to become more flexible in meeting different customers'
differentiation requirements," said Dr. C.J. Tsai, Director, Display System
Division, LED Programme, ASTRI. "In the LCD television market, where the race
to develop new products is intense, faster time-to-market is key to business
success. Xilinx FPGAs offered us greater flexibility to customize our
application with lower system costs, and significantly reduced our product
development time. The extensive support provided by Xilinx and the strong
technical support offered by its distribution sales team Avnet Memec China
were the other factors that prompted us to choose Xilinx FPGAs over competing
solutions."

"Our Spartan series FPGAs offer an unmatched combination of low power, high
performance and low cost, which has made them the number one choice for LCD TV
manufacturers around the world for multiple generations," added Clement
Cheung, Marketing and Application Director for Xilinx Asia Pacific. "As the
worldwide PLD industry leader, Xilinx and Avnet are proud to partner with
ASTRI to bring innovative technology to the quickly evolving flat panel
display market."

About Xilinx Flagship Spartan FPGAs
Xilinx flagship Spartan FPGAs are the low-power, low-cost silicon foundation
for Xilinx Targeted Design Platforms. The company's next-generation Spartan-6
FPGAs are designed for cost-sensitive applications requiring high-speed
connectivity and low-power operation with embedded serial transceivers,
advanced power management, and proven 45-nanometer architecture.
Domain-optimized devices provide a rich mix of integrated system features
including memory controllers, digital signal processing, and PCIe® Endpoint
block, as well as RoHS-compliant lead-free package options for developing
'greener' electronics products. For more information about Spartan FPGAs,
visit: www.xilinx.com/spartan6 or www.xilinx.com/spartan3a.

Designers can learn more about Xilinx Targeted Design Platforms by attending
X-fest, a global series of free technical seminars sponsored by Avnet and
Xilinx. These free one-day seminars offer practical training for engineers. To
register for an X-fest event, visit http://www.weboom.com/avnet/index.html.

About ASTRI
The Hong Kong Applied Science and Technology Research Institute (ASTRI) was
founded by the Government of Hong Kong Special Administrative Region in 2000
to enhance technological advances for Hong Kong through applied research. In
2006, ASTRI was designated the Hong Kong Research and Development Centre for
Information and Communications Technologies by the Innovation and Technology
Commission to perform leading-edge research and development (R&D) for
technology transfer to industry, develop technological human resources and act
as a focal point bringing together industry and university R&D assets.

During the past few years, ASTRI has been conducting a spectrum of world-class
and customer-focused R&D, and has built teams of excellent researchers,
produced a volume of intellectual properties and created real economic impact
by transferring technologies to its clients in Hong Kong, the Mainland and the
region. For more information, please visit www.astri.org

About Avnet Electronics Marketing Asia
Avnet Electronics Marketing Asia is part of Phoenix-based Avnet, Inc. (NYSE:
AVT), a Fortune 500 company with fiscal 2009 sales exceeding USD16.23 billion.
Serving customers in more than 70 countries, Avnet is one of the largest
distributors of electronic components, computer products and embedded
technology.

Avnet Electronics Marketing has a significant presence in Asia-Pacific - the
fastest growing electronics market in the world. With its regional
headquarters in Singapore, the company has offices in over 40 locations in
Asia. Avnet Electronics Marketing Asia distributes semiconductors,
interconnect, passive and electromechanical components to serve a wide range
of customers including original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), electronic
manufacturing services (EMS) providers, and small- to medium-sized businesses,
and provides associated design-chain and supply-chain services. The company's
web site is located at www.em.avnetasia.com.

About Xilinx
Xilinx is the worldwide leader in complete programmable logic solutions. For
more information, visit www.xilinx.com.

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XILINX, the Xilinx logo, Virtex, Spartan, ISE, and other designated brands
included herein are trademarks of Xilinx in the United States and other
countries. PCI-SIG, PCI, PCIe and PCI Express are trademarks of PCI-SIG and
used under license. All other trademarks are the property of their respective
owners.

Editorial Contacts:
Melissa Zhang
Xilinx Asia Pacific
(86) 10-6268-2899 ext. 806
melissa.zhang@xilinx.com

SOURCE Xilinx Inc.

Melissa Zhang of Xilinx Asia Pacific, (86) 10-6268-2899 ext. 806,
melissa.zhang@xilinx.com