Minister of Industry and Information Technology's Visit Underscores Government Recognition and Commitment to SVAC Adoption

BEIJING, September 7, 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 the Company recently received an official visit from Mr. Wei Miao, the Minister of China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology to promote and support the implementation of the SVAC standard.

On September 2, 2011, Minister Miao visited Vimicro's headquarters in Beijing, and Vimicro management provided the minister with a tour of the Company's facilities and gave a presentation on the Company's R&D activities, specially the development of the Surveillance Video and Audio Coding (SVAC) digital-surveillance standard.

After the presentation, Minister Miao expressed the need for accelerating the research, development, and commercialization of the SVAC standard. Minister Miao said, "I recently decided to pay a visit to Vimicro, a leading member of the SVAC alliance, to receive an update on the development of SVAC, the world's first security monitoring standard. We hope that the SVAC working group and alliance will incorporate contributions from other enterprises and resources to promote the entire security and surveillance industry value chain, from chipset and software development all the way to system integration. We will fully support SVAC implementation, from test sites to commercial trials and ultimately, all the way to large scale adoption on the national level and beyond."

Minister Miao continued, "The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology will continue to support Vimicro and promote the adoption of the SVAC standard. We will work to enhance communication and cooperation, and the Ministry of Public Security and the Standardization Administration of China (SAC) will promote the adoption and commercialization of the SVAC standard."

"We are pleased and honored by Minister Miao's visit, and we appreciate the government's support to Vimicro and its commitment to the adoption of the SVAC standard. We are proud to have been recognized as a leading provider of multimedia processors and surveillance solutions in China," commented Vimicro's Chairman and CEO, Dr. John Deng. "As the SVAC standard becomes more broadly adopted in China, we are well positioned to become a leader in the surveillance industry. We look forward to continuing to contribute to the advancement of the industry while increasing shareholder value."

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.