New 100mm Gallium Nitride Award Focuses on Maximized Yield, Lower Cost in High Power, High Frequency Device Manufacturing

HILLSBORO, Ore. & RICHARDSON, Texas--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- TriQuint Semiconductor (NASDAQ: TQNT), a leading RF products manufacturer and foundry services provider, today announced that it has been awarded a Defense Production Act Title III gallium nitride (GaN) manufacturing development contract by the US Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL). The overall goal of the contract is to increase yield, lower costs and improve time-to-market cycles for defense and commercial GaN integrated circuits. The contract was awarded based on TriQuint's success and experience developing new gallium nitride technologies and products.

TriQuint's new GaN contract is divided into three phases with goals and assessment criteria at each milestone. The primary first phase goal is to make a baseline assessment of manufacturing readiness, according to TriQuint Vice President Tom Cordner. In the second program phase, TriQuint will work to improve and refine the production process to reach a manufacturing readiness level (MRL) of 8 in developing its advanced MMICs. In the final phase, which is expected to conclude in 2013, the program will demonstrate MMIC fabrication that meets full performance, cost and capacity goals. TriQuint is the prime contractor and all the work is to be performed at its Richardson, Texas facility.

TriQuint has been a leader in GaN research and product development for both defense and civilian applications since 1999. In addition to its military design and manufacturing work, TriQuint has released new GaN amplifiers for wireless communications and a wide range of other applications over the last three years. TriQuint was the first to offer high frequency, high power commercial GaN foundry services (0.25μm GaN on SiC) in 2008.

"TriQuint is very excited to participate in this program to accelerate gallium nitride manufacturing technology. This program will take the technology from the early stages of production to a mature manufacturing process enabling next-generation systems," Cordner remarked. "We have successfully transferred process technologies into manufacturing at TriQuint for more than 25 years and we look forward to these new challenges and opportunities."

Gallium nitride is a key process technology that is leading advanced semiconductor amplifier design thanks to inherent advantages including high voltage operation, greater power density (more power per square millimeter) and efficiency. The on-going development of GaN-based devices is leading to new smaller, more efficient amplifiers that reduce system size, weight and power consumption.

TriQuint's expertise in gallium nitride (GaN), gallium arsenide (GaAs) / high-voltage GaAs pHEMT, surface acoustic and bulk acoustic wave (SAW / BAW), low-cost packaged devices and monolithic microwave integrated circuits (MMICs) has made it a leading supplier of RF system components to Boeing Company, Lockheed Martin Corporation, Northrop Grumman, Raytheon and other major defense contractors. TriQuint supplies RF innovation for consumer retail products including mobile devices, wireless LAN, triple-play CATV systems, optical network and wireless infrastructure applications.

For more information about TriQuint products for defense and aerospace, visit www.triquint.com. Register for product updates and our newsletter at: www.triquint.com/rf.

FORWARD LOOKING STATEMENTS

This TriQuint Semiconductor, Inc. (NASDAQ: TQNT) press release contains forward-looking statements made pursuant to the Safe Harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Readers are cautioned that forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties. The cautionary statements made in this press release should be read as being applicable to all related statements wherever they appear. Statements containing such words as ‘leading', ‘exceptional', ‘high efficiency', ‘key role', ‘leading supplier', or similar terms are considered to contain uncertainty and are forward-looking statements. A number of factors affect TriQuint's operating results and could cause its actual future results to differ materially from any results indicated in this press release or in any other forward-looking statements made by, or on behalf of, TriQuint including, but not limited to: those associated with the unpredictability and volatility of customer acceptance of and demand for our products and technologies, the ability of our production facilities and those of our vendors to meet demand, the ability of our production facilities and those of our vendors to produce products with yields sufficient to maintain profitability, as well as the other "Risk Factors" set forth in TriQuint's most recent 10-Q report filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. This and other reports can be found on the SEC web site, www.sec.gov. A reader of this release should understand that these and other risks could cause actual results to differ materially from expectations expressed / implied in forward-looking statements.

FACTS ABOUT TRIQUINT

TriQuint Semiconductor (NASDAQ: TQNT) celebrates its 25th anniversary in 2010 as a leading global provider of innovative RF solutions and foundry services for the world's leading communications, defense and aerospace companies. People and organizations around the world need real-time, all-the-time connections; TriQuint products help reduce the cost and increase the performance of connected mobile devices and the networks that deliver critical voice, data and video communications. With the industry's broadest technology portfolio, recognized R&D leadership, and expertise in high-volume manufacturing, TriQuint creates standard and custom products using gallium arsenide (GaAs), gallium nitride (GaN), surface acoustic wave (SAW) and bulk acoustic wave (BAW) technologies. The company has ISO9001-certified manufacturing facilities in the U.S., production in Costa Rica, and design centers in North America and Germany. For more information, visit www.triquint.com.

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TriQuint Product Marketing:
TriQuint Semiconductor, Inc.
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Source: TriQuint Semiconductor, Inc.

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