Cypress Names Senior VP of Worldwide Manufacturing; 26-Year Semiconductor Industry Veteran to Increase Plant Efficiencies.

Business Editors/High-Tech Writers

SAN JOSE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 25, 2001

Cypress Semiconductor (NYSE:CY) today announced the appointment of Arthur C. Woodward as senior vice president of Worldwide Manufacturing. Woodward will report directly to President and CEO T.J. Rodgers.

Woodward will be responsible for back-end assembly and test manufacturing, production control, package technology development, and worldwide procurement and logistics. In addition, he will head Cypress's Information Technology Group.

"I'm enthusiastic about helping Cypress to supplement their world-class product and process development capability with a highly automated, flexible and cost effective assembly and test capability, linked by integrated planning, logistics, and procurement systems," Woodward said.

During his tenure at National Semiconductor, Woodward brought the back-end assembly and test organizations to world-class status in cycle times, productivity, and operating costs, provided industry benchmark logistics with third-party warehousing and distribution programs, and expanded the capabilities of the factories to independently support significant package and process development. Under Woodward's direction, volumes doubled over the last three years with declining headcount and no increase to the factory floor space.

"Woodward's charter at Cypress is to expand our world-class manufacturing, materials, and logistical infrastructure to continue Cypress's pace setting growth," said Cypress President and CEO T.J. Rodgers. "His leadership enabled National Semiconductor to become the leader in its industry peer group for lowest logistics and purchasing costs per dollar product shipped and per dollar of material purchased. Woodward will be charged with making Cypress's manufacturing just as efficient."

Woodward comes to Cypress with over 26 years of experience in the semiconductor industry. For the last 17 years he was with Fairchild and National Semiconductor, moving up the ranks from senior product engineering manager to his most recent position as vice president of manufacturing. In the latter role, he was primarily responsible for wafer probe, assembly, and test facilities in Singapore; Melacca, Malaysia; and the LTCC (Low Temperature Co-fired Ceramic) operation in Irvine, Calif. Prior to this position, Woodward served as the vice president of Central Planning and Production Control for National, including worldwide logistics and corporate purchasing. Woodward received his B.S. in Electrical Engineering from the University of Maine.

About Cypress

Cypress Semiconductor (NYSE:CY) is "Driving the Communications Revolution"(TM) by providing high-performance integrated circuit solutions to fast-growing markets, including data communications, telecommunications, computation, consumer products, and industrial control. With a focus on emerging communications applications, Cypress's product portfolios include high-speed data communications ICs; networking-optimized and micropower static RAMs; high-bandwidth multi-port and FIFO memories; high-density programmable logic devices; timing technology solutions; and controllers for Universal Serial Bus (USB).

More than two-thirds of Cypress's sales come from fast-growing communications markets and dynamic companies such as Alcatel, Cisco, Ericsson, Lucent, Motorola, Nortel Networks, and 3Com. Cypress's ability to mix and match its broad portfolio of intellectual property enables targeted, integrated solutions for high-speed systems that feed bandwidth-hungry Internet applications. Cypress aims to become the preferred silicon supplier for Internet switching systems and for every Internet data stream to pass through at least one Cypress IC.

Cypress employs more than 4,700 people worldwide with international headquarters in San Jose, Calif. Its shares are listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol CY. More information about Cypress is accessible electronically on the company's worldwide Web site at http://www.cypress.com.

"Safe Harbor" Statement under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995: Statements herein that are not historical facts are "forward-looking statements" involving risks and uncertainties, including by not limited to: the effect of global economic conditions, shifts in supply and demand, market acceptance, the impact of competitive products and pricing, product development, commercialization and technological difficulties, and capacity and supply constraints. Please refer to Cypress's Securities and Exchange Commission filings for a discussion of such risks.

Note to Editors: "Driving the Communications Revolution" is a trademark of Cypress Semiconductor.