NXP Semiconductors, an independent semiconductor company founded by Philips, announced today that it has been named by Business Watch as one of the top ten fast reaction companies of 2008 out of the top fast 100 companies in China. This award is well-deserved due to a series of timely and effective counterstrategies adopted by NXP in the face of an industry revolution and a challenging economic environment. These strategies ensured the scale and leadership position of NXP's core business and its continued robust growth toward its goal of becoming a stronger major company. Other companies on this list besides NXP were industry leaders like Google, Volkswagen, Intel, ABB, Eaton.

Business Watch, as China's only business news weekly, has a broad influence in the fields of business and finance in China. The selection committee for this event included important figures from the fields of finance, business, and investing, famous business management experts, and Business Watch's own experts and distinguished readers. The results of online polls and the opinions of Business Watch readers were also consulted. The goal of the annual selection process is to show the developing trends in different fields. The hundreds of companies that were considered in this voting came from more than ten industries like manufacturing, IT, telecommunications, financial services, consumer electronics, fast-moving consumer goods, and automobiles.

Concerning NXP’s selection, Business Watch’s chief editor Gao Yu’s said, “As a fast reaction company, NXP showed outstanding fast responsive ability in the face of market changes. Their sensitive strategic vision allowed them to take the industry lead in making adjustments to their business. With an effective adjustment strategy, NXP not only created preemptive opportunities for the company’s robust development, but it also provided abundant experiences for other companies in its industry and for Chinese business in general to emulate. They especially showed how to pursue robust development during a period of industry adjustment and in the face of a challenging economic environment”

Mike Yeh, NXP Semiconductors senior vice-president and greater China region sales manager and executive said, “NXP is deeply honored to be named as one of the top ten fastest responding companies by Business Watch. This honor is very significant for us, and confirms that the measures adopted by NXP in the past year to counter the slowdown in the global semiconductor industry were timely and effective. In early 2008, before the arrival of the global economic 'winter,' NXP had already started to change its all-around semiconductor business style to a concentration on the four major fields of home, automotive electronics, identification, and multimarket semiconductors. NXP also strengthened the market leadership of its key businesses with a series of strategic mergers and cooperative agreements.”

In late 2007, there were only faint signs that a revolution in the semiconductor industry was brewing, but NXP keenly observed the conditions that we have today and established an effective growth strategy to bring about the company’s fast growth. In July 2008, NXP and STMicroelectronics integrated their core wireless businesses to form the joint venture ST-NXP Wireless, creating one of the top three companies in the global wireless industry. Afterwards, NXP separated out its Can Tuner module business and formed a joint venture with Thompson. In August, NXP acquired Conexant's set top box business, and the integrated business made NXP one of the top three technology providers in the global digital video system market. In September, NXP implemented reorganization of its corporate organizational structure. A series of effective market strategies and constant solidification of its market scale and position in the fields of automotive electronics, multimarket semiconductors, intelligent recognition, and home entertainment products ensured the company’s fast growth in a time of market changes.

About NXP Semiconductors

NXP is a leading semiconductor company founded by Philips more than 50 years ago. Headquartered in Europe, the company has about 33,500 employees working in more than 20 countries and posted sales of USD 6.3 billion (including the Mobile & Personal business) in 2007. NXP creates semiconductors, system solutions and software that deliver better sensory experiences in TVs, set-top boxes, identification applications, mobile phones, cars and a wide range of other electronic devices. News from NXP is located at www.nxp.com.