Altera Provides November Update; Reduces Revenue Guidance.

Business Editors

SAN JOSE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Nov. 29, 2000

Altera Corporation (NASDAQ: ALTR) today announced that it is reducing its guidance for sequential revenue growth for the fourth quarter ending December 31, 2000. Management now expects fourth quarter revenues to approximate the $395 million reported in the third quarter. November resales were less than management's previous expectations in all geographies. Low book-to-bill on distributors (Orders to Resales) indicate December resales will also be lower than previously anticipated. November resales were lower than August, the corresponding period of last quarter, with almost all of the reduction occurring in North America. On a quarter-to-date basis, overall resales are ahead of the first two months of last quarter but management expects that December resales will be lower than those of September.

Nathan Sarkisian, Altera's Chief Financial Officer said, "Throughout the last three weeks of November we have seen sluggish resales and low turns orders from end-customers. With the benefit of hindsight we believe we had customers participating in the DSL business that overbought in the first three quarters of the year, and are now pulling back.

"A more important factor, however, is the inventory accumulation at contract manufacturers. Now that our lead-times are short and product availability is good across our entire product portfolio, contract manufacturers are taking the opportunity to reduce their own inventories, resulting in reduced resales."

The company will host a conference call today at 2:00 PM Pacific Time to discuss this business update as well as its view on business prospects for 2001. The call may be accessed by calling [phone] and referencing confirmation code 564525. 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 564525. 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 market demand, turns orders, and customer inventory levels. 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.

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