Candescent Breaks Ground on State-of-the-Art ThinCRT Flat-Panel Display Manufacturing Plant.

SAN JOSE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Nov. 19, 1998--

Facility to Be Largest, Most Advanced of Its Kind in the

Western Hemisphere; Volume Customer Shipments to Begin in

the First Quarter of 2000

Candescent Technologies Corp. today announced it has started construction on its new advanced flat-panel display (FPD) manufacturing facility to be located in San Jose. The new facility, the largest FPD manufacturing plant outside of the Far East, will mark the return of high-volume display manufacturing to the U.S. and represents the first advanced fab built in the Silicon Valley in more than 10 years. The 340,000 square-foot building will be completed in late summer-1999 and will serve as the company's headquarters.

"Today, almost 95 percent of flat-panel displays are manufactured in the Far East," said Harry Marshall, chairman, president and CEO, Candescent Technologies Corp. "I am proud that we're delivering on our promise to bring high-volume display manufacturing back to the U.S. In addition, our San Jose location puts us close to our development efforts, customers and suppliers, providing us a noted advantage as we continue to develop and bring ThinCRTs(TM) to market."

Candescent's new class of flat-panel display -- the ThinCRT -- is designed for desktop and notebook computers and other emerging products that require high-picture quality. Based on a set of proprietary inventions, ThinCRTs combine conventional cathode ray tube (CRT) technology -- typically associated with TV screens and desktop computer monitors -- with advances in semiconductor, disk drive and flat-panel manufacturing processes and equipment. ThinCRTs offer the attractive visual performance of CRTs, yet exhibit a power efficiency and form factor suitable for battery-powered, mobile applications.

Over time, more than 500 new employees are expected to fill various development and manufacturing positions at the new facility that, together with the manufacturing equipment, is expected to ultimately cost in excess of $400 million. Construction of the new facility, located on the corner of Hellyer Ave. and Branham Lane in the Edenvale Redevelopment Project area, is being managed by DPR Construction, headquartered in Redwood City, Calif.

The new facility, classified by the industry as a "Generation 3" fab, is planned to produce sample displays by the beginning of 2000, with volume shipments to customers beginning later that year. Candescent will begin shipping 5.3-inch QVGA, 6-bit color evaluation displays to key customers from its existing 320 x 340mm development fab, also located in San Jose, in the first quarter of next year.

When completed, the new fully-automated 590 x 670mm glass substrate fab line will initially have the capacity to produce 350,000 14.1-inch displays per year and up to one million 14.1-inch displays per year when fully outfitted. Automated guided vehicles (AGVs) will handle the large glass substrates from the beginning of the manufacturing process through the entire assembly phase.

Candescent's strategy has been to identify and develop low-cost process technologies that are essential to high-volume, mass-market manufacturing. To that end, the company has formed a number of strategic alliances with makers of automated manufacturing tools and equipment to rapidly transition the company from technology development to volume manufacturing. In addition, almost 80 percent of the tools, equipment and processes utilized in the new fab will be leveraged from existing CRT, active-matrix liquid crystal display (AMLCD) and semiconductor manufacturing technology. Manufacturing of ThinCRTs is expected to be simpler and faster than AMLCDs, the predominant display used today for notebook computers.

Candescent Technologies Corp. was founded in 1991 to develop, manufacture and market the world's first ThinCRT. ThinCRTs deliver full-motion, true color video image quality in a low-power, low-cost flat-panel display. Candescent intends to become a major supplier of flat-panel displays for notebook and desktop computers, communications and consumer products, and will deliver its first ThinCRTs in early 1999. Candescent's current corporate offices are located at 6320 San Ignacio Ave., San Jose, Calif., 95119. Other information about Candescent is available via the World Wide Web at http://www.candescent.com.

Note to Editors: ThinCRT is a trademark of Candescent Technologies, Corp.