“Atmel’s Secure Microcontroller Solutions business offers Inside the opportunity to acquire unique people, skills and technologies to reinforce our leadership in the smart card and secure transaction devices market,” said Rémy de Tonnac, chief executive officer for Inside Contactless. “Combining these businesses has the potential to be a game-changing event in the smart card industry. It will create a pure-play fabless semiconductor leader singularly focused on the secure transactions market.” According to de Tonnac, this combination will put Inside in a leading position to meet the growing global demand for solutions in the payments market, the emerging NFC mobile commerce market and the electronic identification market. After completion of the information and consultation process with its Works Council, in accordance with French law, Atmel will seek authorization from its board of directors to enter into the purchase agreement with Inside, with the transaction expected to close in the third quarter of 2010, subject to certain closing conditions. www.insidecontactless.com www.atmel.com