Spreadtrum Announces $44 Million of New Financing

SHANGHAI, China — Spreadtrum Communications, Inc. (NASDAQ: SPRD, the “Company”), one of China’s leading wireless baseband chipset providers, today announced that its Chinese subsidiary, Spreadtrum Communications (Shanghai) Co., Ltd., has received RMB 300 million (approximately $44 million) of new financing from a Chinese bank in the form of a fixed term loan.

The bank loan is unsecured and is for a term of 3 years. Interest on borrowings will be initially set at 5.4% annually, to be reset annually at the then benchmark applicable rate as set by the People’s Bank of China. The interest on borrowings under this bank loan will be mostly covered by Chinese government subsidy funds.

“We very much appreciate and are excited to receive this nearly interest-free financing. This indicates the Chinese government’s strong support and high confidence in Spreadtrum to develop semiconductor products in 2nd and 3rd generation wireless communications in the Chinese market. We plan to use our borrowings under the loan to increase R&D investment in our GSM and TD-SCDMA projects and to expand our IC operations in China. With our strengthened financial position, we are more confident in our ability to overcome the difficulties caused by the current worldwide economic and financial crisis and do not expect to need to raise additional funds in the near future,” said Dr. Leo Li, president and chief executive officer of Spreadtrum Communications, Inc.