Altera Provides February Update; Reduces Revenue Guidance.

Business Editors/High-Tech Writers

SAN JOSE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Feb. 27, 2001

Altera Corporation (Nasdaq: ALTR) today announced it is reducing its revenue guidance for the quarter ending March 31, 2001. Resale rates, though improved from the end of last year, have not accelerated. Incoming orders deteriorated in February leading management to believe that resale rates will decline towards the end of the quarter. Management now expects revenues in the first quarter to be down approximately twenty percent from fourth quarter revenues of $368 million.

John Daane, president and CEO, said, "An industry-wide inventory correction began in the fourth quarter and now reduced end market consumption is exacerbating the impact of that correction. We are seeing the effects of reduced capital spending by service providers and other communications market end customers impact our customers' business and hence their purchases. The slowdown in end market activity is prolonging the inventory correction, but we believe that moderate sequential revenue growth will resume in the second half."

The company will host a conference call today at 2:00 p.m. Pacific Time to discuss this business update and the company's business outlook. The call may be accessed by calling [phone] and referencing confirmation code 414034. The call will be available for replay at 5:00 p.m. Pacific Time and may be accessed by calling [phone] and referencing the same confirmation code of 414034. A webcast of the call is also available at www.altera.com and a webcast replay will be posted later in the day.

Fax on Demand

Copies of Altera's announcement are available from its fax-on-demand service. In the U.S. and Canada to request a copy call 1-800-789-ALTR. International users can dial their local International Access Code followed by 1-408-894-0466.

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains "forward-looking statements" which are made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements are generally written in the future tense and/or preceded by words such as "will," words that imply a future state, or phrases that reference the future such as "guidance." Investors are cautioned that all forward-looking statements in the release involve risks and uncertainty, including without limitation the risk that future performance is dependent on overall economic conditions, end market demand, and the rate of inventory reduction at OEMs and contract manufacturers. Please refer to the company's Securities and Exchange Commission filings, copies of which are available from the company without charge.

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.

Altera and The Programmable Solutions Company are trademarks and/or service marks of Altera Corporation in the U.S. and other countries.