April 1, 2010

Dear Customers, Partners and Associates of CEL:

When two giant Japanese semiconductor companies merge, it is natural to wonder what might happen to their smaller partners, such as CEL.  I'll address that in a moment, but first, all of us at CEL congratulate our long-standing partner, NEC Electronics, on the completion of its merger with Renesas Technology Corporation to form Renesas Electronics Corporation.  It has been a long process, with many legal, business, and regulatory hurdles finally crossed. I'm sure everyone involved is relieved that this long planned merger has finally come to fruition.

In this merger of equals, the surviving legal entity is actually NEC Electronics though it is assuming the Renesas name.  However, the new logo's blue color and "Electronics Corporation" come from NEC.  NEC Corporation remains the largest shareholder. As you may have seen in our ads, it might take us a few weeks to get used to our partner's new name but beyond that little has changed for CEL in our working relationship with this very important partner.  

Most important, our product supply continues uninterrupted. We will still supply our customers and partners with the same great products from the same best-in-class production facilities, including RF switches, power amplifiers, low noise amplifiers, optocouplers, solid state relays, lasers, and detectors.

One of the reasons that our supply chain is unaffected is the new entity's continued commitment to world class quality. But another key reason is that while the microcontroller (MCU) and system on chip (SoC) businesses of NEC Electronics and Renesas are merging, the entity with which we have built a 50 year relationship - the Compound Semiconductor Devices Division (CSDD) - has no equivalent at Renesas.  Therefore, there simply hasn't been much to "merge".  CSDD continues largely unaffected in the new entity though its name becomes Compound Semiconductor Devices Business Division (CSDBD).

CSDBD continues to change, improve, and adapt.  To the extent you hear of any product or manufacturing changes, those plans were in place before the merger, driven by the desire for continuous improvement.

We are delighted that the uncertainty caused by the pending merger is behind us.  Now, without any distractions, we and the new Renesas can confidently bring the best RF and optical semiconductors to market.   

We sincerely believe this merger will have minimal impact on you, our cherished customers and partners, but should you have any questions or concerns, please contact your account representative.

In short - mergers happen, but we are still us. We're still CEL, dedicated to the same great products and same great service you've come to expect. And we are looking forward to another 50 plus years of serving you.

Sincerely,

Paul A. S. Minton
President and Chief Executive Officer