Altera to Ask Court to Reverse Patent Infringement Verdict -- If Denied, Will File Appeal.

Business Editors

SAN JOSE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Nov. 17, 2000

Affected Sales of FLEX 8000 Programmable Logic Device 

Estimated to Be About 2% of Expected Year-2000 Revenues

Altera Corporation (Nasdaq:ALTR) issued the following statement with respect to the jury verdict reached late today in its patent infringement trial in the US District Court for the Northern District of California.

-- Altera believes the jury verdict that the company's FLEX(R) 8000 products
infringed two Xilinx Inc. (Nasdaq:XLNX) patents is in error. (US Patent No. Re.
34,363, "Freeman" and US Patent No. 4,642,487, "Carter")

-- Altera will file a motion with the court to reverse that verdict. Should the
motion be denied, the company will file an appeal.

-- Statistically, since 1995, the U.S. Court of Appeals has overturned about
half of the patent infringement cases brought before it.

-- The appeal process could take as long as two years.

-- Damages, if any, will be assessed at a separate trial. No schedule has been
set for this trial; it is at the trial court judge's discretion to delay this
phase of the trial pending any appellate court decisions.

-- Affected sales of Altera's FLEX 8000 products are estimated to be about $30
million, or about 2% of the company's total revenue for the current year. FLEX
8000 sales are expected to be flat or declining in 2001.

-- The jury verdict in the trial follows the court's ruling that all claims
made by Xilinx against Altera's MAX(R) family of products will be dismissed
with prejudice.

-- The court found a number of claims in Xilinx's Freeman patent to be invalid
and that the main claim of the Carter patent is also invalid.

A more complete press release will be issued Monday morning, November 20, 2000. The company will host a conference call on Monday, November 20, 2000 at 10:00 a.m. Pacific Standard Time to discuss these topics more fully. The call may be accessed by calling 913/981-5523 and referencing confirmation code 738579. The call will be available for replay at 1:00 p.m. PST. The replay may be accessed by calling 719/457-0820 and referencing the same confirmation code of 738579. A webcast replay of the call will be available later in the day on the company's web site at www.altera.com.

A fact sheet about this lawsuit will be available later this evening in the investor relations section of the company's website.

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" 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", or describe an anticipated future event. Investors are cautioned that all forward-looking statements in the release involve risks and uncertainty, including without limitation the risk that the complex and evolving nature of such legal proceedings may alter the company's legal plans and that future court rulings cannot, by their nature, be predicted with certainty. For additional information, please refer to the company's Securities and Exchange Commission filings, copies of which are available from the company without charge.

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