Poing, 10 December 2009 

Avnet Memec, the highly specialised semiconductor distributor of Avnet Electronics Marketing EMEA, announced today that it has expanded its distribution agreement with TOREX Semiconductor Ltd., a specialist in analog power supply IC design, development, and manufacturing. Based on their successful cooperation in France, the companies have agreed to extend the franchise contract to Italy, Iberia and Greece enabling Avnet Memec to distribute TOREX’ product range to designers in Southern Europe. The agreement is effective since October 2009.

There is an increasing demand for compact, lightweight, highly precise and low-cost power supply ICs. In power supply design low current-consumption ICs are particularly needed extending the battery life for new portable equipment.

“Designers are looking for even more advanced ICs helping them to meet the demands of the new generation of high technology products”, said Raffaele Giglio, Country Director Italy and Greece Avnet Memec. “Expanding our existing partnership with TOREX to Southern Europe offering TOREX products enables us to extend our reach to an even larger designer community. In addition we are proud that TOREX selected Avnet Memec as its only distributor for Italy.”

“Taking full advantage of our advanced analogue and CMOS technologies, TOREX consistently develops high speed, low noise products offering extremely low current consumption and performance lead characteristics, which easily exceed the levels achieved with traditional bipolar IC technology”, explained Andy Scott, European Marketing Manager of TOREX. “We are pleased to extend our cooperation with Avnet Memec and believe that Avnet Memec will support us in strengthen our position in these regions.”

Founded in 1995, Torex Semiconductor Ltd. is a leading provider of CMOS power management ICs aimed at battery powered and energy efficient applications. Specialising in cutting edge CMOS analogue technology, DC/DC Converters and LDO Voltage Regulators are at the core of our product range, but the company’s broad portfolio also includes power MOSFETs, Schottky Barrier Diodes, Oscillator & PLL ICs.

While the company’s corporate headquarters are located in Tokyo, Japan, it operates a worldwide network of sales offices in key markets throughout Asia, North America, Europe and the Middle East with design centres in Asia & North America.

Torex Semiconductor Europe Ltd., the European Sales & Marketing division of Torex, was established in 2001 in order to provide even better technical & logistical support to customers and distributors in Europe and the Middle East. The company is based in the UK, close to Loughborough in the East Midlands. With its own warehouse, lab and in-house engineer, the company has the capability to not only provide samples quickly but to also build customer specific evaluation boards to short lead times.

Torex is a company with a global outlook and a commitment to offering high quality, competitively priced solutions with sophisticated functions for a wide range of applications.

Avnet Memec, a business unit of Avnet Electronics Marketing EMEA, is a highly specialised semiconductor distributor, operating on a pan-European basis and employing a significant number of engineers to support customers’ design efforts. Avnet Memec specialises in highly innovative suppliers and technologies, which will help a variety of customers to differentiate their designs. Its area of specialisation extends from Analog and Microcontrollers to RF, Datacom and Networking. The business unit operates out of 31 offices in 19 European countries and represents major semiconductor franchises on a pan-European basis. www.avnet-memec.eu