Other income and expense was a net expense of $3 million for the fourth quarter of 2008, this compares to net other income of $3 million for the third quarter and $1 million for the fourth quarter of 2007. For the full year, other income expense was an expense of $6 million for 2008 and income of $4 million for 2007.

Income tax provision was $4 million for the fourth quarter of 2008, this compares to income tax benefit of $4 million for the third quarter of 2008, an income tax provision of $6 million for the fourth quarter of 2007. For the full year 2008, income tax provision was $7 million compared to $8 million for 2007.

Non-GAAP net income for the fourth quarter of 2008 totaled $5 million or a $0.01 per diluted share compared to net income of $43 million or $0.09 per diluted share for the third quarter of 2008 and $20 million or $0.04 per diluted share for the year ago quarter. For the full year 2008, non-GAAP net income was $78 million or $0.17 per diluted share compared to $78 million or $0.16 per diluted share for 2007.

Net loss on a GAAP basis for the fourth quarter of 2008 totaled $24 million or $0.05 per diluted, this compares to a net loss of $5 million or $0.01 per diluted share for the third quarter of 2008, and net income of $2 million or breakeven per diluted share for the year ago quarter. Net loss for the full year 2008 was $27 million or breakeven per diluted share compared to $47.9 million or $0.10 per diluted share for 2007.

Turning to the balance sheet, we remain focused on managing our cash effectively. Our cash and cash balances which are cash, cash equivalents for short-term investments totaled $441 million at the end of the fourth quarter of 2008, an increase of $20 million from the end of the prior quarter, and an $11 million increase from the fourth quarter of 2007. Cash provided from operations totaled $30 million for the fourth quarter of 2008 and $165 million for the full year of 2008 excluding the impact of North Tyneside fab closure.

Capital expenditures were approximately $10 million for the fourth quarter and $44 million for the full year of 2008. This was at the low end of our revised estimate of $45 to $55 million for 2008. The lower CapEx can be attributed to effective cost controls and reduce manufacturing capital requirements.

Depreciation and amortization for the fourth quarter of 2008 combined were $30 million. This compares to $34 million for both the third quarter of 2008 and the fourth quarter of 2007. For the full year, depreciation and amortization was $135 million for 2008 and a $129 million for 2007.

Accounts receivable were a $185 million at the end of the fourth quarter. This was down approximately $36 million from the prior quarter primarily as a result of lower revenue during the quarter.

Days and sales outstanding were 50 at the end of the fourth quarter, flat from the prior quarter, with the exception of the provision taken in Q4 for bad debt related to an Asian distributor, whose business was extraordinarily impacted following their addition to the US government’s entity list, which prohibits the company from shipping products to the distributor.

We have not seen any decline in the payment performance of our customer base and we continue to provide tight control and oversight of our credit levels and AR balances.

Inventory was $324 million at the end of the fourth quarter. This was up $9 million from the prior quarter a result of the lower Q4 revenue levels. We are taking action to reduce inventory exposure by reducing our fab loadings in order to match rate of production before cost to demand.

Days of inventory at the end of the fourth quarter increased to $148 from $119 at the end of the prior quarter. Now, let me turn the call over to Steve for a commentary of our business.

Steven Laub

Thank you, Stephen. As you know, today Atmel announced that it is pursuing strategic alternatives for the company's ASIC business and related manufacturing assets, including a potential sale. This is a significant step-forward in building a new Atmel, which is to transform Atmel into a microcontroller based company, enhance its cost structure and unlock value.

Over the last two years, we have taken decisive actions to improve and restructure nearly every aspects of Atmel's operation. The evaluation and implementation of strategic alternatives for ASIC business is a major step in Atmel transformation plan. Atmel's ASIC business is a leading provider of high-performance, customer-specific integrated circuits and security solutions to the industrial, military, aerospace and consumer markets, operating in three distinct segments; customer-specific products, smartcards and aerospace.

Our ASIC business is a market leader in multiple segments; it is no longer consistent with our long-term strategy of building a micro-controller base company. As we proceed with this process, we will remain focused on continuing to drive technological leadership, provide innovated products and services for our ASIC customers and create value.

Now let me move to a discussion of our business. During the fourth quarter of 2008, as we all aware, the global economy continued to weaken and the semiconductor industry suffered one of the worst declines on record. Virtually every semiconductor company revised revenue guidance downward, as the global economic weakness, translated to customers pushing out or cancelling orders as a result of their own reduced demand.

Although Atmel is not immune to the consequences of the weakening economic environment, we are encouraged by our strong relative performance, as our fourth quarter revenues declined only 16% sequentially, while most companies in our industry experienced sequential revenue declines of 18%, 25% and 35%.

In addition, Atmel generated the highest gross margins for both the fourth quarter and full year 2008 in over seven years. This is the result of the actions we have previously taken, to focus the company on a high-growth, high-margin products, as well as reduce our cost structure. These actions included divesting or closing over 14 product lines, reducing our wafer fab facilities from five to two, and reducing our total headcount from appropriately 8000 to approximately 6000 or over 25%.