1st Silicon Appoints Dr. W. John Nelson As Its CEO

Kuching, Sarawak MALAYSIA; November 25th, 2002 -- 1st Silicon (Malaysia) Sdn. Bhd. announced today that the company's board of directors has appointed Dr. W. John Nelson as Chief Executive Officer. Dr. Nelson, who joined 1st Silicon as chief operating officer in May of this year, has been acting CEO since September. He succeeds Claudio G. Loddo.

Datuk Fong Joo Chung, Chairman of the Board of 1st Silicon, commented on the appointment, saying, "With the factory start-up phase behind us, 1st Silicon's sights are now focused on strengthening its operational activities and expanding its customer relationships around the world. Dr. Nelson's combined successes in overseeing manufacturing operations and spearheading sales efforts, provide the combination of experience and know-how necessary for the next stage of the company's growth." "It is imperative that in today's competitive foundry market, we deliver customer driven products on time and of high quality," stated Dr. W. John Nelson. "We will continue to develop long-term partnerships with our customer base and further explore opportunities to broaden our technology portfolio."

From 1999 until joining 1st Silicon in May of 2002, Dr. Nelson was Chief Operating Officer of General Semiconductor, where he was responsible for day-to-day operations including worldwide manufacturing, sales, marketing and new-product development.

For seven years between 1990 and 1999, Dr. Nelson was based in Taipei, Taiwan, and served in several executive positions, including president of General Semiconductor's Asia-Pacific operation. Prior to leading General Semiconductor Taiwan's divestiture from General Instrument, Dr. Nelson was president of General Instrument, Taiwan, and he also served as vice-president and general manager of General Instrument's power semiconductor division. During that time he also directed the construction of the company's manufacturing site in Tianjin, China, driving completion in less than two years.

From 1994 until 1996, Dr. Nelson was based in New York as senior vice-president of worldwide operations of General Instrument's semiconductor division. Dr. Nelson's other experience includes positions as wafer fabrication operations manager at Unitrode and Fairchild Semiconductor, as well as various wafer-fabrication engineering posts at Analog Devices.

Dr. Nelson earned both a Bachelor of Science degree with honors and a PhD in physics from the University of Ulster, Ireland.

About 1st Silicon (Malaysia) Sdn. Bhd.
1st Silicon is a dedicated semiconductor foundry founded in 1998 by the Malaysian State of Sarawak. 1st Silicon's 200mm wafer fab has a capacity in excess of 30,000 wafers per month when fully ramped. The Company started volume production with 0.25µm digital and mixed signal CMOS technology in Q1 2001, and has introduced its 0.18µm process. 1st Silicon's customers include Integrated Device Manufacturers and Fabless Semiconductor companies from the US, Japan, and Asia. The Company has its headquarters in Kuching, Sarawak, Malaysia, and a US registered Subsidiary Corporation located in San Jose, California.

Please visit 1st Silicon's homepage at www.1stsilicon.com for more information.

NOTE: "1st Silicon" and the 1st Silicon logo are trademarks belonging to 1st Silicon (Malaysia) Sdn. Bhd.