Vimicro (VIMC) to Benefit from Government Alliance to Drive the Adoption of the SVAC Digital-Surveillance Standard

BEIJING, Aug. 29, 2011 /PRNewswire-Asia-FirstCall/ — Vimicro International Corporation (NASDAQ: VIMC) (“Vimicro” or the “Company”), a leading multimedia semiconductor and IP-based surveillance solution provider, today announced that on August 25, 2011, five key government agencies formed an alliance to promote the adoption of the Surveillance Video and Audio Coding (SVAC) digital-surveillance standard on a national level.

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The alliance is a non-profit organization devoted to accelerating the application and implementation of SVAC, as well as to popularize the standard and assist its industrialization process. Participating government agencies included: the Ministry of Public Security, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the Ministry of Science and Technology, the National Development and Reform Commission, and the Standardization Administration of China (SAC). During the alliance’s inaugural conference, Mr. Jian Li, the Director of the First Research Institute of the Ministry of Public Security, was elected chairman, and Vimicro’s Chairman and CEO, Dr. John Deng, was elected honorary Chairman and Chief Scientist by the government and industry leaders assembled to promote the SVAC standard. The representatives of the five agencies also delivered speeches at the gathering. One common theme was the continued commitment of the Chinese government to promote the standard nationwide to expand the application of SVAC to other areas such as the Internet of Things and to promote SVAC to become an international standard, among other topics discussed.

“The SVAC national standard was developed to solve the interoperability issues of current video-surveillance systems due to inconsistent source-coding standards. The SVAC national standard will play an important role in national security, the digital intelligent city, intelligent transportation, energy development, business, finance, healthcare and many other areas. The SVAC alliance will improve China‘s audio and video technology for the benefit of national security as well as our general industrial competitiveness, which in turn will encourage more users to purchase our members’ SVAC products,” commented Mr. Wei Sun, the head of the Technology, Information and Automation Department of the SAC.

Mr. Yiping Xie, head of the Technology and Information Bureau of the Ministry of Public Security added, “From a national innovation and independent intellectual-property perspective, the SVAC alliance creates a platform to develop the entire security and surveillance industry chain in China.”

As previously disclosed, the SVAC standard was co-developed by Vimicro and the first Research Institute of the Ministry of Public Security and it also benefited from the contributions of more than 40 scientific research institutes, universities and security-industry companies. The standard was officially released by the SAC on December 31, 2010. SVAC is the first technology standard designed to solve the unique needs of the surveillance industry. It has special significance for the establishment of China‘s public security and crime-prevention system. The implementation of the SVAC standard commenced on May 1, 2011, and it is the preferred protocol for government contracts and is available to all suppliers participating in the surveillance industry.

“This alliance creates the foundation for an exciting new era for the security video and audio-monitoring industry,” commented Dr. Deng. “As the co-initiator and co-developer of the SVAC standard, we believe Vimicro is well-situated to establish a leadership position in this growing field, and being elected as the Alliance’s honorary Chairman and Chief Scientist is a tremendous personal honor. I will devote my efforts to promote and develop the technology necessary for supporting the standard.”

About Vimicro International Corporation

Vimicro International Corporation is a leading multimedia semiconductor and solution provider that designs, develops and markets mixed-signal semiconductor products and system-level solutions that enable multimedia capabilities in a variety of products for the consumer electronics and communications markets. Vimicro is also expanding business into the surveillance market with system-level solutions and semiconductor products. Vimicro’s ADSs, each of which represents four ordinary shares, are currently trading on the NASDAQ Global Market under the ticker symbol “VIMC.”

Forward-Looking Statements

This announcement contains forward-looking statements. These statements are made under the “safe harbor” provisions of the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements can be identified by terminology such as “will,” “expects,” “anticipates,” “future,” “intends,” “plans,” “believes,” “estimates,” “confident” and similar statements. Among other things, the quotations from management in this announcement, as well as Vimicro’s expectations and forecasts, contain forward-looking statements. Vimicro may also make written or oral forward-looking statements in its periodic reports to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on forms 20-F and 6-K, etc., in its annual report to shareholders, in press releases and other written materials and in oral statements made by its officers, directors or employees to third parties. Statements that are not historical facts, including statements about Vimicro’s beliefs and expectations, are forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements involve inherent risks and uncertainties. A number of factors could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in any forward-looking statement, including but not limited to the following: the company’s ability to develop and sell new mobile multimedia products; the expected growth of the mobile multimedia market; the company’s ability to increase sales of notebook camera multimedia processors; the company’s ability to retain existing customers and acquire new customers and respond to competitive market conditions; the company’s ability to respond in a timely manner to the evolving multimedia market and changing consumer preferences and industry standards and to stay abreast of technological changes; the company’s ability to secure sufficient foundry capacity in a timely manner; the company’s ability to effectively protect its intellectual property and the risk that it may infringe on the intellectual property of others; and cyclicality of the semiconductor industry. Further information regarding these and other risks is included in Vimicro’s annual report on Form 20-F filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Vimicro does not undertake any obligation to update any forward-looking statement, except as required under applicable law. All information provided in this press release is as of the date hereof, and Vimicro undertakes no duty to update such information, except as required under applicable law.