Impinj Gen 2 Silicon Shipments to Eclipse 50 Million Units in 2005

Impinj, Inc., the fabless semiconductor company whose patented Self-Adaptive Silicon technology enables its two business lines: high performance radio-frequency identification (RFID) and semiconductor intellectual property products today announced that it has entered volume production and will fulfill orders exceeding 50 million units for its Monza Generation 2 (Gen 2) RFID tag chip in the second half of 2005.

Impinj has already manufactured several million of the Monza chips to fulfill orders from customers including Avery Dennison (NYSE:AVY), Hana RFID, IER, KSW Microtec AG, Precisia, RF IDentics, RSI ID Technologies and UPM Rafsec.
First introduced in April 2005, Monza, part of Impinjs GrandPrix solution for robust RFID systems, is the worlds first tag chip compliant with the Gen 2 standard promulgated by EPCglobal Inc., the industry consortium established to promote RFID technology and products worldwide. Monza chips, which implement all mandatory features and several optional commands of the Gen 2 protocol, provide the many benefits promised by Gen 2, including superior tag throughput and compliance with global spectrum regulations. As demonstrated in several pilots currently underway, Monza chips establish new benchmarks for range, readability, and high-speed field rewriteability. Orientation insensitivity is an added benefit when Monza is used in Impinjs unique dual antenna configuration. In keeping with Impinjs high quality standards, Monza chips are 100% factory tested and exhibit excellent RF impedance and ESD protection characteristics, critical for ensuring superior inlay manufacturability at the highest assembly speeds.

We are extremely pleased that customers appreciate the performance advantages that our Monza tag silicon delivers, said Dr. William Colleran, Impinj president and CEO. With volume production now underway and key supply chain partnerships in place, Impinj is well-positioned to support the accelerating Gen 2 adoption. We expect inlays based on our Monza chips to be available in high volumes as early as September, followed shortly thereafter by converted labels.

"EPC Gen 2 silicon availability will benefit the tag value chain as it prepares for high volume end-user 2006 orders. It is critical that inlay vendors strengthen sourcing channels for Gen 2 silicon in 3Q05 to ensure Gen 2 product is ready to meet label converter and end user demands in late 2005 and early 2006," commented Erik Michielsen, Director, RFID & Ubiquitous Networks at ABI Research.