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AUSTIN, Texas--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Silicon Labs (NASDAQ: SLAB), a leader in high-performance, analog-intensive, mixed-signal ICs, today introduced the industry’s most advanced automotive tuner IC family designed to deliver best-in-class AM/FM and HD Radio/DAB/DMB digital radio performance for demanding car radio systems. Silicon Labs’ next-generation Si4790x tuner IC family delivers a new benchmark for car radio reception performance while delivering the lowest system cost. The Si4790x family also provides exceptional flexibility and scalability for Tier 1 automotive infotainment suppliers and aftermarket car radio makers worldwide.

The Si4790x family leverages Silicon Labs’ patented digital low-IF architecture and RF in CMOS technology pioneered more than 12 years ago. Silicon Labs introduced its first single-chip broadcast audio IC products nearly 10 years ago, redefining how AM/FM tuner ICs were designed into analog-intensive consumer electronics products by providing a highly integrated solution that reduced component count by more than 90 percent and board space by more than 60 percent. To date, Silicon Labs has shipped more than 1.2 billion “radio-on-a-chip” ICs, culminating with the introduction of the Si4790x family, the industry’s most advanced automotive tuner IC.

The superior linearity of the Si4790x tuner’s integrated RF front-end, combined with comprehensive AM/FM firmware running on a high-performance on-chip radio DSP, sets a new bar for key automotive radio metrics such as sensitivity in weak signal environments, selectivity in the presence of blockers, and immunity to multipath fading and distortion.

According to IHS Automotive, global automotive sales reached nearly 83 million vehicles in 2013 and will climb to 85 million vehicles in 2014. Many of these vehicles feature sophisticated infotainment systems with multiple tuner ICs and antennas to deliver FM phase diversity reception, receive Radio Data System (RDS) data for info-navigation systems, and support digital radio standards such as HD Radio prevalent in the U.S. market and Digital Audio Broadcast (DAB), the leading European standard. To address today’s global market, the Si4790x tuner family supports all worldwide broadcast radio bands including AM/FM, longwave (LW), shortwave (SW), NOAA weather band, FM RDS decoding, and AM/FM HD Radio and DAB reception (Band-III and L-band).

The Si4790x family’s scalable architecture is well suited for the global automotive market, enabling developers to optimize system configurations to match specific automotive OEM requirements worldwide. Leveraging the Si4790x family, Tier 1 suppliers can make the most of their R&D investment across multiple product segments, from cost-effective single-tuner designs to premium multi-tuner systems, with one modular architecture. All tuner devices in the Si4790x family share the same application programming interface (API) allowing infotainment system developers to reuse the same software across different product lines and market segments.

The Si4790x tuners’ high level of single-chip integration enables developers to significantly reduce board space, the external bill of materials and overall system cost. The tuners integrate active loop-through buffers for all radio bands, eliminating external active splitters. Integrated active loop-through buffers greatly simplify the front-end RF design, further reducing cost.

“The Si4790x tuner ICs set a new standard of excellence for car broadcast reception and RF performance,” said James Stansberry, senior vice president and general manager of Silicon Labs’ Internet of Things and broadcast products. “Designed to be a truly global automotive radio solution, the Si4790x family supports all leading broadcast standards worldwide, and our scalable architecture enables infotainment system suppliers to leverage their investments across multiple product lines ranging from entry-level car radios to cutting-edge multi-tuner, multi-antenna radios for premium vehicles.”

Pricing and Availability

Samples of Si4790x automotive tuner ICs are available now. To help accelerate development of Si4790x-based systems, the Si4791-3T1A-EVB evaluation kit is available for $1495 (USD). For Si4790x product pricing, please contact your local Silicon Labs sales representative or an authorized distributor. For additional product information, please visit www.silabs.com/pr/automotive-tuner.

Silicon Labs

Silicon Labs is an industry leader in the innovation of high-performance, analog-intensive, mixed-signal ICs. Developed by a world-class engineering team with unsurpassed expertise in mixed-signal design, Silicon Labs’ diverse portfolio of patented semiconductor solutions offers customers significant advantages in performance, size and power consumption. For more information about Silicon Labs, please visit www.silabs.com.

Cautionary Language

This press release may contain forward-looking statements based on Silicon Labs’ current expectations. These forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties. A number of important factors could cause actual results to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements. For a discussion of factors that could impact Silicon Labs’ financial results and cause actual results to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements, please refer to Silicon Labs’ filings with the SEC. Silicon Labs disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

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