Altera Joins HyperTransport Technology Consortium; Contributor Membership Gives Altera Early Access to Emerging Interface Technology.

Business Editors/High-Tech Writers

SAN JOSE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Nov. 13, 2001

Altera Corporation (Nasdaq:ALTR) today became the newest member of the HyperTransport(TM) Technology Consortium. The programmable logic company said it joined the industry group as part of its commitment to customers to deliver next generation high-speed processor interfaces.

"As engineers designing bandwidth-hungry products move from conventional PCI to HyperTransport technology, programmable logic solutions will be key in providing high-speed interfaces to other semiconductor components on the system," said Hiro Higuma, director, strategic marketing for Altera. "Joining the HyperTransport Technology Consortium is in line with Altera's goal to provide our customers with the latest interface technologies and IP for their system-on-a-programmable chip applications."

"With Altera shipping devices in production today supporting 1Gbps I/O, as well as the momentum behind its standard Atlantic(TM) interface for intellectual property, we expect a solid programmable solution for HyperTransport from Altera," said Gabriele Sartori, president of the HyperTransport Technology Consortium. "Atlantic, I/O support, and Altera's Emerging High-Speed Interface Conference held in August clearly demonstrate their commitment to emerging interconnect technology."

About HyperTransport(TM) Technology

HyperTransport Technology is a new high-speed, high-performance, point-to-point link for integrated circuits. HyperTransport provides a universal connection that is designed to reduce the number of buses within the system, provides a high-performance link for embedded applications, and enables highly scalable multiprocessing systems. It was developed to enable the chips inside of PCs, networking, and communications devices to communicate with each other up to 48 times faster than with some existing bus technologies.

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, the stylized Altera logo, specific device designations and all other words that are identified as trademarks and/or service marks are, unless noted otherwise, the trademarks and service marks of Altera Corporation in the U.S. and other countries. HyperTransport and combinations thereof are trademarks of the HyperTransport Technology Consortium in the U.S. and other jurisdictions. All other product or service names are the property of their respective holders.