Clairvoyante lands first deal with Silicon Works

<p>SEBASTOPOL - Clairvoyante Inc., a technology startup backed by a number of North Bay investors, makes the leap from development company to a full-fledged provider of liquid crystal display panel technology with the announcement of an agreement with Silicon Works. Beginning mid year, the Korea-based semiconductor company launches mass production of a system-on-a-chip for small screens enabled by Clairvoyante's PenTile technology.</p><p> Silicon Works will sell the chips to major LCD manufacturers, who, in turn, supply makers of electronic devices. So the highly readable pixel architecture developed by the now-Cupertino-based company could conceivably appear on your cell phone by Christmas, according to Clairvoyante president and CEO Joel Pollack. "But it's more likely to be the first quarter of 2006," he adds.</p><p>Speaking last week from the Society of Information Display Symposium in Boston, where the chip was generating a huge amount of interest, he called the agreement a key event for Clairvoyante.</p><p>"It's one thing to have the technology, another to translate it into a device that will reach the retail market. And for mobile display technology, the very best place to be is on a driver chip. It saves board space, ideal for a cellular phone."</p><p>PenTile takes advantage of the processing characteristics of the human eye to produce cost-effective displays that consume less power and offer greater brightness at high resolution. The technology was developed by Candace Elliot, who founded Clairvoyante in Sebastopol in 2000.</p><p>Analysts had speculated about the likelihood of manufacturers putting large amounts of money into a completely new technology. Building a screen prototype can cost up to $1 million, according to Mr. Pollack. But the technology has attracted manufacturers' attention.</p><p>Samsung and 10 other LCD manufacturing companies are engaged with Clairvoyante on various levels of testing and development. A product announcement is expected shortly from Samsung, according to Mr. Pollack. But Silicon Works will be the first actual producer of a small-screen product, indicating Clairvoyante has successfully turned a corner. The company is also in talks with other chip manufacturers.</p><p>"Our model will be to license the technology to both the chip and the LCD makers, but only the chip license will be royalty-bearing," says Mr. Pollack. Although he declines to state projected revenues, he expects Clairvoyante to reach breakeven by mid 2006.</p><p>The 15-employee company has been funded by just under $14 million in two rounds of investment capital. Investors include Intel, Selby Venture Partners, members of the North Bay Angels, and American River Ventures. Mr. Pollack says the current investors are happy with the company's progress and would be likely to put in a third round if needed, "and we have other finance options. But we're a lean company with a very low burn rate."</p><p>Though Clairvoyante is now headquartered in Cupertino, its founder retains her office in Sebastopol, where she launched the company.</p><p>For more information, visit www.clairvoyante.com.</p>