System-On-A-Programmable Chip: Here and Now

San Jose, Calif., April 16, 2001-Adding to a history composed of industry firsts, Altera Corporation (NASDAQ: ALTR) brings to life the marriage of programmable logic and embedded processors by delivering their Excalibur^TM embedded processor solutions. For the past 9 months, Altera has been shipping its Nios^TM processor core, the first soft core processor designed specifically for programmable logic. At last week's Embedded Systems Conference, Altera beat the competition once again by showing off its ARM^®-based Excalibur solution integrating the popular ARM9^® hard core from ARM Limited with leading-edge APEX^TM programmable logic from Altera. No longer is system-on-a-programmable-chip (SOPC) on the drawing board--it is ready for customer boards. Engineers designing next generation electronic products, whether in wireless communications, networking and storage, biomedical equipment, or digital entertainment, can now do it better, faster, and at lower cost because Altera SOPC solutions are here.

The company also announced partnerships with key players in the embedded design industry, including Red Hat Inc., Wind River Systems, Mentor Graphics Corp., and Microtronix.

About Altera

Altera Corporation, The Programmable Solutions Company^®, was founded in 1983 and is a leading supplier of programmable logic devices (PLDs). Altera's CMOS-based PLDs are user-programmable semiconductor chips that enhance flexibility and reduce time-to-market for companies in the communications, computer peripheral, and industrial markets. By using high performance devices, software development tools, and sophisticated intellectual property cores, system-on-a-programmable-chip (SOPC) solutions can be created with embedded processors, memory, and other complex logic together on a single PLD. Altera common stock is traded on The Nasdaq Stock Market under the symbol ALTR. More information on Altera is available on the Internet at http://www.altera.com.

Altera, The Programmable Solutions Company, Nios, Excalibur, APEX, and specific device designations are trademarks and/or service marks of Altera Corporation in the U.S. and other countries. All other trademarks are the property of their respective holders.

ARM is a registered trademark and ARM9 is a trademark of ARM Limited. All other trademarks are the property of their respective holders.