BEIJING, Nov. 3 /Xinhua-PRNewswire/ -- Vimicro Corporation , a leading fabless semiconductor company that designs and develops advanced mixed signal multimedia semiconductor products and solutions, is pleased to announce Dr. Yingyi Qian has joined Vimicro as an independent board director and audit committee member, as well as the promotions of Kevin Jin to president and chief operating officer, Raymond Zhang to senior vice president and general manager of the mobile multimedia business unit, Jun Zhu to general manager of the PC multimedia business unit, Mike Yu to general manager of the advanced multimedia business unit and Dave Yang to general manager of the consumer electronic business unit.

Dr. Qian currently serves as dean of Tsinghua University School of Economics and Management and as a professor of economics at the University of California at Berkeley. As a renowned Chinese economist and expert in management studies, Dr. Qian has advised leading Chinese companies on restructuring and other important governance issues. He currently serves as an independent director and audit committee member of China Netcom Group Corporation and Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, which recently completed the world's largest IPO. Prior to joining the Berkeley faculty, Dr. Qian taught in the Department of Economics at Stanford University and the University of Maryland. Dr. Qian graduated from Tsinghua University in 1981 with a B.S. in mathematics. He received his Ph.D. in economics from Harvard University in 1990, after earning an M.Phil. in management science/operations research from Yale University and an M.A. in statistics from Columbia University.

In recognition for his outstanding marketing and sales efforts, Kevin Jin, previously chief operating officer and vice president of sales at Vimicro, has been appointed president and chief operating officer, responsible for the company's daily management and operations. Jin co-founded Vimicro in 1999 together with Dr. John Deng, Vimicro chairman and CEO and Dr. Dave Yang, Vimicro chief technology officer. He has been instrumental in expanding the company's sales and distribution capabilities to attract leading domestic and international customers. He has served on Vimicro's board of directors since 2004.

In recognition for his achievements, Raymond Zhang, previously vice president of marketing of Vimicro, has been promoted to senior vice president and general manager of the mobile multimedia business unit. Zhang has played a key role in developing the company's multimedia capabilities in the mobile sector. Under Zhang's leadership, Vimicro has increased its mobile multimedia revenue with over 200 models of handset design wins and has penetrated strategic tier-one customers. Last week, the company announced that Samsung Electronics, one of the world's largest handset manufacturers, has adopted Vimicro's high-end ringtone processors in two of its latest handsets. The handsets, which were designed and manufactured to meet the increasing global consumer demand for multimedia features, are currently being marketed by leading wireless providers in the United States and Canada.

In addition, Jun Zhu, vice president of engineering of Vimicro, has been appointed general manager of PC multimedia business unit, Dr. Mike Yu, vice president of algorithms and software of Vimicro, has been appointed general manager of the advanced multimedia business unit and Dr. Dave Yang, CTO of Vimicro, has been appointed general manager of the consumer electronic business unit. With over 16 years of design experience, Zhu has been instrumental in developing Vimicro's PC multimedia business. In addition to leading the Microsoft-Vimicro Multimedia Technology Center, Dr. Yu has been critical in advancing Vimicro's imaging capabilities. Prior to joining Vimicro, Zhu served as a senior manager at Intel in California and Dr. Yu served as a senior research scientist at Eastman Kodak in New York.

Dr. John Deng will continue to serve as chairman and CEO of Vimicro, overseeing the company's strategic development and global operations.

"We are delighted that Dr. Qian has joined our board of directors," said Dr. Deng. "He is a world-renowned leading economist. In addition to his academic and management expertise, Dr. Qian's corporate governance and advisory experience in leading global listed companies will be a tremendous asset to Vimicro. Our team will benefit greatly from his leadership, experience and passion for promoting innovative companies."

Dr. Deng also commented, "Kevin, Raymond, Jun and Mike have all played essential roles in leading Vimicro to become the world leading semiconductor company for PC cameras and mobile multimedia applications. Since joining Vimicro, they have demonstrated outstanding leadership, management capabilities and passions. I am confident that they are well prepared to further grow our company and penetrate more tier-one customers."

Tom Zhang has resigned as vice president and board director of Vimicro for personal reasons.

About Vimicro

Vimicro International Corporation is a leading fabless semiconductor company in China that designs, develops and markets proprietary embedded multimedia signal processing chips and solutions that enable multimedia applications for mobile phones over 2.5G/3G networks and PCs over broadband Internet.

http://www.vimicro.com/english

CONTACT: Sheena Shen, Public Relations Director, Vimicro Corporation,
+86-10-6894-8888 ext. 8788, sheenashen@vimicro.com; Rebecca Stavros, Investor
Relations Manager, Vimicro Corporation, +86-10-6894-8888 ext. 8414,
rebeccastavros@vimicro.com

Web site: http://www.vimicro.com/english