SUNNYVALE, CA — October 1, 2002 — OMNIVISION Technologies, Inc. (Nasdaq: OVTI) announced that it is proceeding with plans to invest an additional $30 million in HuaWei Technology International, Ltd. (“HuaWei”), a wholly owned subsidiary based in the Cayman Islands that in turn wholly owns HuaWei Semiconductor (Shanghai) Co., Ltd. (“HuaWei Semiconductor”). As previously announced, the Company established HuaWei Semiconductor in an effort to reduce costs associated with the testing of its CMOS image sensors. This testing is currently done at the Company’s headquarters in California. According to Shaw Hong, president and chief executive officer of OMNIVISION, the Company now anticipates that in addition to using HuaWei Semiconductor as a testing facility, it may expand the scope of operations to include other processes associated with manufacturing its products, including color filter processing capacity.
The Company expects to fund HuaWei Semiconductor through a combination of funds invested directly through HuaWei from the Company’s available working capital and from third-party investments in HuaWei, which third-party investments could include debt financing from banking institutions or an equity financing transaction. HuaWei is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Company, and no third party, including any employee, executive officer, or service provider of the Company, holds any equity interest, including an option, warrant, or other right to acquire capital stock in HuaWei. In the Company’s proxy statement for its 2002 annual meeting of stockholders, the Company explained that it anticipated granting options to purchase common stock of HuaWei to certain of the Company’s employees, including certain of its executive officers, in the quarter ending October 31, 2002. However, the granting of such options was contingent upon an equity investment by a third party in HuaWei. Since no third-party equity investment has been made, the Company has not granted, and does not currently intend to grant, any options in HuaWei to its employees, including its executive officers.
About OMNIVISION
OMNIVISION Technologies is a supplier of highly integrated semiconductor imaging devices for high-volume, low-cost computing, communications and consumer electronics applications. With its small footprint and low power consumption, the Company’s proprietary highly integrated CameraChip™ enjoys significant competitive advantages over CCD image sensors and other multi-chip CMOS solutions. Single-photo and video applications include cell phones, PDAs, motor vehicles, commercial and residential surveillance, and biometric identification. Further information is available at www.ovt.com.
OMNIVISION and CameraChip™ are trademarks of OMNIVISION Technologies, Inc.
Safe Harbor
The foregoing press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. These forward looking statements include, but are not limited to, statements regarding the operations and funding of HuaWei Semiconductor; anticipated benefits from the Company’s HuaWei Semiconductor facility, including, but not limited to, lower testing costs and other operational efficiencies; the anticipated investment costs associated with the Company’s HuaWei Semiconductor facility; and the Company’s intention to obtain third party investment in HuaWei. These forward-looking statements are subject to significant risks and uncertainties. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those described in the Company’s forward looking statements include: technology and infrastructure risks; administrative, legal and governmental barriers, including provisions of Chinese law that may prevent the use of capital committed to HuaWei Semiconductor outside of China; risks associated with foreign operations generally, including the ability to attract and retain qualified personnel experienced in manufacturing CMOS image sensors; integration risks with the Company’s other operations, including the potential disruption of the Company’s other business activities and diversion of management attention; potential difficulty in attracting third party financing on favorable terms; risks associated with issuing debt securities, including risks associated with interest payment and the potential adverse effects on the Company’s results of operation and financial condition. These risks and other risks affecting the Company’s business, results of operation and financial condition are detailed from time to time in the Company’s Securities and Exchange Commission filings and reports, including, but not limited to, the Company’s annual report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended April 30, 2002 and its quarterly report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended July 31, 2002. These forward-looking statements are made only as of the date hereof, and OMNIVISION disclaims any obligation to update or revise the information contained in any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.