Altera Corporation Software Engineering Department Expands in Santa Cruz.

SAN JOSE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sept. 24, 1999--

Altera Corporation (Nasdaq:ALTR) today announced that its Software Engineering-Santa Cruz department will occupy over 11,500 square feet of space in The Cooper House, located at 110 Cooper Street, Santa Cruz (Calif.) The Software Engineering-Santa Cruz department came about with the acquisition of Boulder Creek Engineering, formerly located on Mission Street, by Altera on May 28, 1999.

"We're delighted to maintain our Santa Cruz roots, and especially to be a part of the next phase of The Cooper House's history," said Bryan Hoyer, founder of Boulder Creek Engineering and current senior director at Altera. "Staying in the area also allows us to attract local engineering talent that Silicon Valley companies often have difficulty recruiting."

Boulder Creek Engineering, founded in 1994, designed and manufactured hardware and software tools used by electronic design engineers to debug systems on a chip. The company combined hardware and software to solve the growing dilemma of debugging and verification of system-on-a-chip designs. Altera's Software Engineering-Santa Cruz department recently debuted SignalTap(TM) logic analysis tools, a cornerstone product that will expand into a family of tools. A myriad of companies using SignalTap will enjoy faster verification of their designs, resulting in a dramatic acceleration in the time it takes to bring their products to market.

The original Cooper House, built on October 1, 1867 was damaged beyond repair in the 1989 Loma Prieta Earthquake. The old Cooper House was a Santa Cruz retail haven -- a unique environment with jazz emanating from its outdoor cafe -- a favorite of locals and tourists alike. The Cooper House was the first building constructed in Santa Cruz County to serve as the county courthouse. The two-story structure was constructed from red brick from the local Santa Cruz Brick Company.

Immediate Software Engineering-Santa Cruz plans are to double the number of hardware and software engineers at the new facility by the end of 1999, with growth continuing in 2000. Qualified candidates are invited to submit resumes to [e-mail].

Altera Corporation

Altera Corporation, The Programmable Solutions Company(TM), was founded in 1983 and is a leading supplier of programmable logic devices and associated logic development software tools. Programmable logic devices are semiconductor chips that can be programmed on-site, using software tools that run on personal computers or engineering workstations. User benefits include ease of use, lower risk, and fast time-to-market. Altera's CMOS-based programmable logic devices address high-speed, high-density and low-power applications in the telecommunications, data communications, computer peripheral, and industrial markets. Altera common stock is traded on the Nasdaq Stock Market under the symbol ALTR. More information on Altera can be obtained on the Internet at http://www.altera.com. Cooper House photographs can be found at http://www.businesswire.com/altera.

Note to Editors: Altera, The Programmable Solutions Company, SignalTap 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.