Altera Provides May Update; Reduces Revenue Guidance.

Business Editors/High-Tech Writers

SAN JOSE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 31, 2001

Altera Corporation (Nasdaq:ALTR) today announced it is reducing its revenue guidance for the second quarter ending June 30, 2001. Management now expects that revenues in the second quarter are likely to decline in the range of 25% from first quarter revenues of $287.4 million compared with earlier guidance for a 20% sequential decline.

Quarter-to-date resales in North America are in line with prior expectations but declines in the company's international channels are greater than anticipated. Although the ratio of incoming orders to resales has improved somewhat in the past several weeks, the overall ratio remains below 1.0 in all channels. Despite the reduced revenue outlook, inventories at Altera and its distributors will decline in the quarter.

John Daane, president and CEO said, "In our international channels we are experiencing a sharper decline in demand than we had forecasted and therefore, we have modified our second quarter revenue guidance. Looking beyond these near term challenges, we are seeing excellent customer response to our growing list of new products and our design win momentum is continuing. We will be in a strong position when growth resumes in the markets we serve."

Altera will announce its complete second quarter results after the market closes on July 23, 2001.

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.

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains "forward-looking statements" that 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" or words that imply or predict a future state such as "expects" or "strong position". Investors are cautioned that all forward-looking statements in this release involve risks and uncertainty, including without limitation the risk that future performance is dependent on product development schedules, the design performance of software and other tools, and customer business environment. Please refer to the company's Securities and Exchange Commission filings, copies of which are available from the company without charge.

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