ZMD maintains high level of future investments in tough market environment

· Successful 2008 financial year: Goals achieved, turnover and
earnings increased slightly
· Comprehensive package of measures against the general economic
crisis; 15 million euro invested in research and development despite
expected decrease in turnover
· Focus on “energy efficiency” as central topic for the future; new
brand identity emphasizes increased internationality
· CEO von Selchow: “ZMD is moving well in a difficult environment and
is able to make anticyclical investments.”

Dresden (Germany), May 14th, 2009 – ZMD AG sees itself as well-positioned
in the tough market environment of the semiconductor industry and is
maintaining a high level of investments despite expected decreases in
turnover. Due to its successful business model since separating from the
foundry, in addition to solid capital resources with an equity ratio of
over 50 percent, ZMD is in a position to make anti-cyclical investments and
overcome the challenges of 2009. At the beginning of 2007, ZMD sold its
wafer production, thereby anticipating a general trend in the industry.
Altogether about 15 million euro will be invested in research and
development in 2009.

At the same time, ZMD looks back at a successful 2008 financial year. As
the company announced today, turnover increased to about 56 million euro in
2008, following 55 million euro in the previous year. Earnings before
interest and taxes (EBIT) improved from about 4 million euro in the
previous year to 4.4 million euro in 2008. Thus, ZMD achieved its goals for
the 2008 financial year overall. By the end of 2008, ZMD employed 270 staff
members worldwide – 30 more than in the year before.

Thilo von Selchow, CEO of ZMD AG said, “ZMD is moving well in a difficult
market environment. At the same time, we look back on 2008 – a successful
year in which we accomplished our goals. We gave ourselves a head start
over the competition with our separation from the wafer production. Our
solid financial foundation provides the basis for further developing our
successful business model. ZMD is able to make anti-cyclical investments
and handle the repercussions of the expected decline in turnover over the
whole year. Furthermore, due to our flexible structure and high level of
technical expertise, ZMD is also capable of using chances for new growth
quickly in an adverse environment.”

The company’s positive development in 2008 was the result of fine business
performance in the first nine months, as well as of a delightful
development in the business of mobile medical diagnostic devices, in
particular. In 2008 the share of turnover from the automotive industry
dropped by about a total of 50 percent. The share of turnover generated
abroad was approximately 75 percent for 2008, as it was in the previous
year. Altogether, over 30 percent of turnover was invested in research and
development in 2008.

Outlook
Looking towards the coming months, ZMD sees itself confronted with an
adverse market and industry environment that is shaped by lower volumes for
top customers and project postponements due to curbed vehicle production in
the automotive industry. This is offset by newly obtained development
projects in the medical and automotive areas, which will not be relevant to
turnover until 2012, however. ZMD is counteracting the continuing recession
with strict cost management and measures to increase efficiency, besides
goal-oriented investments in the development of new products and solutions.
In doing so, 15 new positions will be created as planned, predominantly in
product marketing and development.

Further high levels of uncertainty in the markets and the global economic
crisis allow for only a limited concrete forecast for the whole year. From
a present-day perspective, the company expects turnover to decrease by
about 30 percent for the full year 2009. Simultaneously the company is
preparing for a negative result in the range of about 5 million euro, at
which point the equity ratio will continue to be well above 50 percent.

Mr. von Selchow stated, “2009 is the anticipated difficult year. With an
equity ratio of over 50 percent, we are in a position to handle the burdens
of the current year. As things now stand, we assume that we will reach the
level of 2008 again in 2011.”

Securing innovative strength by means of goal-oriented investments is
described by von Selchow as “key to securing the future”. ZMD will further
keep an eye on the future developments in the relevant markets and will
check its structure for efficiency and customer demands continuously.

With a view to products, ZMD will focus increasingly on the topic of
“energy efficiency” in the future. In this field, ZMD has a high level of
technical expertise and successful products at its disposal. Likewise,
“energy efficiency” is among the central topics of the future for
customers. Beyond that, the company will position itself as more clearly
international with a new brand identity in the future.

The URL for this news release is http://www.zmdi.com/press_releases.php

About ZMD:
Founded in 1961, ZMD AG is a leading supplier of analog and mixed-signal
integrated circuits (ICs) for automotive, medical, and industrial
applications. ZMD specializes in the design and marketing of high
temperature, high voltage and ultra low power application-specific
integrated circuits (ASICs) and application-specific standard products
(ASSPs). Its advanced circuit-design expertise allow it to offer ICs with
operating temperatures as high as +160°C, and voltages from as low as 0.85
V up to 40 V.

Headquartered in Dresden, Germany, ZMD has 270 employees worldwide and
serves customers from the company’s offices in Stuttgart, Germany;
Melville, New York; Pocatello, Idaho; Newark, England; Paris, France;
Milan, Italy; Tokyo, Japan and Hsinchu City, Taiwan. ZMD has design centers
in Dresden, Stuttgart; Varna, Bulgaria and Madison, Wisconsin.

Contacts:
Gabriele Taschler, ZMD Global Marketing Communications Manager, T:
+49.351.8822-633,
Fax: +49.351.8822-666, E-Mail: taschler {at} zmd(.)de
Barbara Kalkis, Maestro Marketing & PR, T: +1 408 996 9975,
kkalkis {at} compuserve(.)com