ATI Introduces POWERPLAY Technology To Improve Battery Life of Notebook PCs.

Business Editors

MARKHAM, Ontario--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aug. 27, 2001

- New technology extends notebook battery life

by more than 30 minutes -

ATI Technologies Inc. (TSE: ATY, NASDAQ: ATYT), the world's number one notebook graphics vendor, today unveiled POWERPLAY(TM), a new technology that extends notebook battery life using a number of techniques, including scaling GPU (graphics processor unit) clock speeds and voltage settings.

POWERPLAY technology will be featured in notebooks powered by ATI's new MOBILITY(TM) RADEON(TM) 7500 graphics processor. "Independent benchmark tests(1) concluded that the POWERPLAY-enabled MOBILITY RADEON 7500 can extend DVD playback by 25 percent or more compared to competing solutions," said David Cummings, Group Product Manager, Mobile Business Unit, ATI Technologies Inc. "On a typical system, this will extend battery life by more than 30 minutes, making it possible, for example, to watch a full-length feature movie on an air flight without running out of battery power.

"Other scenarios, including reading email, using personal productivity applications or playing computer games, also benefit from ATI's POWERPLAY innovations," added Mr. Cummings. "With the anticipated future growth in wireless home and office networks, the increased notebook battery life provided by POWERPLAY is more important than ever."

MOBILITY RADEON 7500 processors with POWERPLAY technology save power while still delivering exceptional 3D performance. Industry experts note that having power management technology in today's mobile graphics processors is vital. "Power management is becoming increasingly critical as advanced 3D graphics processors advance into the notebook space. Without power management, the graphics processor can become the largest single consumer of power in the system, so it is critical to deploy power management technologies into these devices," said Martin Reynolds, Vice President and Research Fellow, Gartner Dataquest. The new feature modulates clock speeds and voltage settings automatically when users switch between AC and battery operation. In MOBILITY RADEON 7500, an advanced POWERPLAY feature known as Power-on-Demand dynamically changes the core voltage and frequency depending solely on user activity. This means that, even in the highest performance mode, POWERPLAY(TM) ensures minimum power consumption and heat dissipation. In fact, the user will never experience any performance difference as a result of Power-on-Demand even though the notebook's battery life will be extended.

ATI's POWERPLAY architecture also includes the option of user-selectable voltage/frequency scaling, which allows for maximum-performance even when running off battery power. In addition to voltage and frequency modulation, other POWERPLAY features include low power LCD (liquid crystal display) refresh-rate reduction. When the MOBILITY RADEON 7500 is operating under battery power, POWERPLAY is able to reduce the refresh rate of the LCD panel when the application does need to run at the full 60Hz (hertz), thus saving further significant power.

Company Background

Founded in 1985, ATI Technologies Inc. is a world leader in the supply of graphics, video and multimedia solutions for personal computer and Mac platforms. The pioneer, innovator and market leader in the graphics industry, ATI provides cutting-edge technologies for the PC, set-top box, game console

and other consumer appliances markets. The Company has more than 1,900 employees supporting customers from its headquarters in Markham, Ontario, Canada, as well as from offices in Barbados, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Ireland, Japan, Malaysia, the United Kingdom and the United States. ATI common shares trade on NASDAQ (ATYT) and the Toronto Stock Exchange (ATY).

Copyright 2001 ATI Technologies Inc. All rights reserved. ATI and ATI product and product feature names are trademarks and/or registered trademarks of ATI Technologies Inc. All other company and product names are trademarks and/or registered trademarks of their respective owners. Features, pricing, availability and specifications are subject to change without notice. For media or industry analyst support, please visit our Web site at http://www.ati.com.

(1) www.inqst.com