HONG KONG, March 5 /Xinhua-PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Texas Instruments, NXP and Apexone were among the 24 semiconductor companies that won Global Sources' Annual Creativity in Electronics (ACE) Awards in mainland China. The ACE Awards honor companies for enabling mainland China's design engineers to develop innovative electronics.

The ACE Awards, sponsored by Electronic Engineering Times-China (EE Times- China), were held in conjunction with the 12th Annual International IC-China Conference & Exhibition, mainland China's largest IC industry trade event.

EE Times-China Publisher, Mark A. Saunderson, said: "With more than 90 percent of mainland China's electronics designs depending on imported technologies, these are the companies that are driving growth in the industry."

ACE Award Company of the Year winners announced today at the Marco Polo Hotel in Shenzhen, China are:

-- Brand of the Year -- Texas Instruments -- Outstanding Services of the Year -- NXP Semiconductors -- Startup of the Year -- Apexone Microelectronics ACE Award Product of the Year winners are: -- AD/DA converter ICs: Analog Devices, Texas Instruments -- Amplifier ICs: Analog Devices, National Semiconductor -- Interface ICs: Analogix Semiconductor, National Semiconductor -- Logic & Programmable Logic: Altera, Xilinx -- Microcontrollers (MCUs): Freescale Semiconductor, Texas Instruments -- Memory: Cypress Semiconductor, Freescale Semiconductor -- Power: Linear Technology, ON Semiconductor -- Processors & DSPs: Analog Devices, Texas Instruments -- RF & Microwave: Freescale Semiconductor, RDA Microelectronics -- Test & Measurement: Agilent Technologies, National Instruments