Altera's 0.13-Micron Rollout Continues with Two More Production Qualified Devices Shipping

Seven Members of the High-Performance Stratix FPGA Family and Three Members of the Low-Cost Cyclone FPGA Family Now Available in Production

San Jose, Calif., April 7, 2003--As it continues to roll out the industry's first production-grade FPGA families built on 0.13-micron process technology, Altera Corporation (NASDAQ: ALTR) announced today that its Stratix^™ EP1S60 and Cyclone^™ EP1C12 devices are now shipping. All members of the Stratix FPGA family are now production qualified, giving customers the widest array of high-density FPGAs currently available from an FPGA vendor.

Altera's track record of engineering excellence has gained the confidence of customers who need to take their products to market quickly and with the lowest possible risk. The Stratix device family allows customers to address the challenges of building high-bandwidth systems, while the low-cost Cyclone device family delivers the flexibility customers need for their designs at ASIC-like prices.

"We needed an FPGA vendor that allows us to develop our visual communications systems in the shortest amount of time and at the lowest cost. We selected Altera for a number of reasons," said Milo Whitehead, senior electrical engineer at Trans-Lux Corporation. "First, they provide superior tools that allow us to quickly complete our designs. Second, with their Stratix devices that offer DSP blocks and the highest memory density, Altera has the advantage as far as FPGA features are concerned. Finally, with the new Cyclone devices, Altera now has the price advantage as well. We have lots of applications that are a good fit for these devices."

The move to volume production for both the high-performance Stratix and low-cost Cyclone device families is driven by the success of the partnership between Altera and TSMC. Introduced in February 2002 and built on TSMC's proven all-copper, 0.13-micron process technology, the Stratix device family's rollout has been Altera's fastest to date. Using the same process and introduced in September 2002, the Cyclone device family is also rolling out in record time with three out of five devices now shipping in production.

"For the past 16 months, we have met our commitments to customers and delivered 0.13-micron production-qualified devices consistently on time," said Steve Mensor, senior director of product marketing at Altera. "We have raised the bar by completing the entire rollout of the Stratix FPGA family in record time and will continue to do the same with Cyclone."

Customers in North America can visit the Arrow web site at www.arrow.com to place their orders today for both Stratix and Cyclone devices. Customers in Europe can visit the Arrow website at www.arrow.com or EBV Elektronik web site at www.ebv.com, and customers in Israel can visit the Eastronics web site at www.eastronics.co.il.

Pricing and Availability
Production versions of Stratix EP1S60 devices are available now in 1.27 mm, 956-pin BGA and 1.0 mm, 1020-pin and 1508-pin FineLine BGA^® packages. Stratix EP1S60 device pricing for 10Ku quantities will be $580 at the end of 2003. All seven Stratix family members are now shipping to customers. To find out more about the shipping status of all of the Stratix devices, visit Altera's website at: www.altera.com/products/devices/stratix/stx-index.jsp.

Production versions of Cyclone EP1C12 devices are available now in 0.5 mm, 240-pin PQFP and 1.0 mm, 256-pin and 324-pin FineLine BGA packages. Cyclone EP1C12 device pricing for 25Ku quantities will be $30 at the end of 2003. A total of three Cyclone family members are now shipping with the fourth device, the EP1C3, expected to ship this month. To find out more about the shipping status of all of the Cyclone devices, visit Altera's website at: www.altera.com/cycloneavailability.

About Altera
Altera Corporation (NASDAQ: ALTR) is the world's pioneer in system-on-a-programmable-chip (SOPC) solutions. Combining programmable logic technology with software tools, intellectual property, and technical services, Altera provides high-value programmable solutions to approximately 14,000 customers worldwide. More information is available at www.altera.com.

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