Atmel rises on Qualcomm deal

Atmel Corporation (Nasdaq: ATML) shimmied up 9 percent Thursday after announcing it will supply Qualcomm Inc (Nasdaq: QCOM) with BiCMOS Radio Frequency Integrated Circuits (RFICs) for its sixth-generation CDMA chipsets.

Atmel shares were up 3 5/16 to 41 1/2. Atmel's shares took a tumble recently despite < a href="http://www.zdii.com/industry_list.asp?mode=news&doc_id=ZE502791&pic=Y&ticker=">stronger-than-expected fourth quarter earnings. Qualcomm's stock was also up 3 1/4 to 69 5/8, reviving from a sharp downturn Wedensday.

Atmel began shipping production volumes of the RFICs last quarter using a 0.5 micron BiCMOS process technology. This analog technology has a higher frequency but reduces operating current and thus power consumption.

Atmel is one of only two RFIC vendors with the capability to produce this technology in volume. Qualcomm produces the majority of the chipsets used in CDMA handsets, the fastest growing segment of the cell phone market.

Financial details of the deal were not released.

Atmel's competitors include AMD (NYSE: AMD), Intel (Nasdaq: INTC) and LSI Logic (NYSE: LSI).