ROUSSET, France and TAIPEI, Taiwan, February 26 /PRNewswire/ --

- Illustrates Ease and Rapidity of CAP Application Development; JPEG
Compression and De-compression IP available from PGC

Atmel(R) Corporation (Nasdaq: ATML) and PGC (Progate Group Corporation)
announced today the availability of a JPEG image viewer reference design
ported onto the low-cost AT91CAP9A-STK Starter Kit for Atmel's AT91CAP9S
Customizable Microcontroller. When connected to a host PC via its USB Device
Port, the CAP-STK appears as a mass storage device for JPEG images. Running
stand-alone, the CAP-STK de-compresses the images and displays them on its
VGA screen, using JPEG de-compression and display IP supplied by PGC, and
mapped into the FPGA that emulates CAP's Metal Programmable block.

Michel Le Lan, Atmel's Marketing Director for ASICs, commented, "This
reference design highlights CAP's benefits for application developers. The
JPEG IP is easily mapped into the CAP(TM) Metal Programmable block, where it
runs extremely efficiently, and can co-exist with other application-specific
functions. The USB Device Port is just one of CAP's many standard interfaces,
enabling rapid data transfer from external sources. The CAP Starter Kit is
very attractively priced, lowering the barrier to entry for customers with
modest development budgets."

EJ Chiang, PGC's Sales & Marketing Director, commented, "Atmel's CAP
series provides a robust ARM(R) platform with a rich IP portfolio. PGC's SoC
team can support designers to focus on a customer's own design on the CAP MP
block, and provide a better time to market service for customers. This JPEG
reference design is just to show one of the many applications targeted by the
CAP series and the mature design service provided by PGC. PGC can also
provide technical training to customers who have CAP Development Kits. PGC is
now ready to launch a design service for customers in Greater China with
Atmel's CAP series."

Availability

The PGC JPEG Encoder and Decoder IP Blocks used to create this reference
design are available now, from http://www.pgc.com.tw/ip-digital.htm

About Atmel

Atmel is a worldwide leader in the design and manufacture of
microcontrollers, advanced logic, mixed-signal, nonvolatile memory and radio
frequency (RF) components. Leveraging one of the industry's broadest
intellectual property (IP) technology portfolios, Atmel is able to provide
the electronics industry with complete system solutions focused on consumer,
industrial, security, communications, computing and automotive markets.

About PGC

Since its foundation in 1991, PGC (Progate Group Corporation) has focused
on ASIC design services. From design initiation, verification, first silicon
to production, PGC does its best to perform a time-to-value partner services
to its customers. PGC endeavors to provide customers the best quality of
design, logistics and quality control service to achieve the challenges of
time to market, competitive price, and the most competitive position in the
market.

(C) 2009 Atmel Corporation. All Rights Reserved. Atmel(R), Atmel logo and
combinations thereof, STK(R) and others, are registered trademarks, CAP(TM)
and others are trademarks of Atmel Corporation or its subsidiaries. ARM(R) is
a registered trademark of ARM Ltd. Other terms and product names may be
trademarks of others.

Atmel Product Information:

Atmel's AT91CAP9A-STK product information may be retrieved at
http://www.atmel.com/dyn/products/tools_card.asp?tool_id=4234

Atmel's AT91CAP product information may be retrieved at
http://www.atmel.com/products/AT91CAP/

PGC Product Information:

PGC's products and services are described at
http://www.pgc.com.tw/business.html

Atmel Press Contacts:
     Peter Bishop, Communications Manager, Atmel Rousset
     Tel: +33-(0)4-42-53-61-50, Email: peter.bishop@atmel.com
     Helen Perlegos, Public Relations
     Tel: +1-408-487-2963, Email: helen.perlegos@atmel.com

     PGC Press Contacts:
     EJ Chiang, Director of Sales & Marketing Dept., PGC
     Tel: +886-2-2658-2233 #242, Email: ej_chiang@pgc.com.tw
     Lulu Wu, Public Relations, PGC
     Tel: +886-2-2658-2233 #232, Email: lulu@pgc.com.tw