Altera Announces Comprehensive IP Support for New APEX II PLD Family.

Business Editors/High-Tech Writers

SAN JOSE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 23, 2001

Altera Corporation (Nasdaq:ALTR), the programmable logic market's largest supplier of intellectual property (IP) cores, today announced comprehensive IP support for its new APEX(TM) II device family. A total of 135 IP cores are now available for system on a chip development in the new high-density, high-performance APEX II device family. These cores come from both Altera's portfolio of MegaCore(R) IP as well as from independent IP providers through Altera's AMPP(SM) IP partnership program.

"The introduction of the new APEX II PLD family and our 135 IP cores is an important milestone for systems designers," said Justin Cowling, Altera's senior IP marketing manager. "The APEX II family is the first PLD family to offer support for a wide range of high-speed serial interfaces such as POS-PHY Level 4, RapidIO, and HyperTransport. That will allow true 10 gigabits-per-second performance for system-on-a-programmable-chip (SOPC) designs."

Additionally, the large capacity of the APEX II devices is demanding even greater usage of IP in the design flow. IP shortens design time, lowers development cost, and gives designers access to technology that may be outside their core competency. With increased device capacity, Altera expects to see an increase in the usage of multiple IP functions in a single device. With device density of over 89,000 logic elements and 1.5 Mbits of on-chip RAM, a typical APEX II design may contain 4-8 IP functions in addition to custom logic.

About Altera

Altera Corporation, The Programmable Solutions Company(R), 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.

Note to Editors: Altera, The Programmable Solutions Company, APEX, AMPP, MegaCore, 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.