Infineon Technologies Opens Development Center in Israel.

SAN JOSE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct. 26, 1999--

Infineon Technologies today announced the formal establishment of a new development center in Israel to focus on digital signal processing (DSP) technology related to Carmel(TM), Infineon's licensable high-end DSP core. This opening results from the acquisition of the DSP design company I.C.COM, located in Azor near Tel Aviv, in which Infineon was previously a founder and minority shareholder. As part of the transaction, Infineon has acquired all shares held by Nisko, its long-time distribution partner, as well as the vast majority of shares held by I.C.COM employees. Terms of the agreement were not disclosed.

The new entity will be fully integrated into Infineon's worldwide network of development centers, reinforcing the company's international development presence. Infineon also has development centers in Singapore; Bangalore (India); Burlington / East Fishkill, Longmont, Princeton, San Jose and Santa Cruz (USA); Sophia Antipolis (France); Bristol (UK); Graz and Villach (Austria); and Ulm and Dusseldorf (Germany). The center will focus on the development of current and future versions of the Carmel DSP and on the integration of this core in various telecommunication and data communication system-on-chip devices.

"This development center will play a unique role in providing the right mix of DSP cores to Infineon's business units while also supporting Infineon's DSP licensees," said Tony Webster, senior vice president and general manager of the cores and modules division at Infineon Technologies. "By opening the Israel development center, Infineon is sending a clear signal regarding our intention to be a major player in the embedded DSP core arena for system-on-chip solutions."

"Infineon succeeded in integrating this entity into it's worldwide development team and in including the design and integration know-how with respect to DSP technologies smoothly in on-going development activities. Infineon will continue to offer acknowledged quality of design environment and development processes," said Pierre Meyer, senior director of the development center coordination department within Infineon Technologies.

Infineon has recently shown a strong interest in the Israeli market by entering cooperative agreements with other companies like Seagull and Savan of which Infineon holds a share of 10 percent. The acquisition of I.C.COM reinforces the company's strong interest in having a more significant presence in this rapidly growing high-tech market.

A new managing director, Eliezer Lev, has been recruited to manage the development center and technical management will remain under the responsibility of former I.C.COM Vice President Amnon Rom.

About Carmel

Carmel is Infineon's high-end DSP architecture. The initial Carmel DSP products are the first members of a family targeting a broad spectrum of embedded applications. Carmel is based on a flexible instruction set incorporating the Configurable Long Instruction Word (CLIW) combined with a superscalar architecture that enables the designer to benefit from a traditional DSP while leveraging the power of Very Long Instruction Word (VLIW) without paying the power dissipation and code expansion penalties associated with VLIW. Infineon plans to promote this Carmel DSP core family through strategic partnerships.

About Infineon

Infineon Technologies, Munich, Germany, formerly Siemens' Semiconductor Group, is the 10th largest semiconductor manufacturer worldwide according to Dataquest. Infineon provides semiconductor solutions for the telecommunications, automotive, data networking, consumer electronics, and industrial automation markets.

The company's comprehensive product portfolio includes integrated system ICs, memory and high frequency components, security and chip card ICs, discrete semiconductors and power ICs, sensors and fiber optic components. In fiscal 1997/98, the company achieved sales of $3.8 billion (DM 6.7 billion) and employed 25,000 people worldwide. Further information at http://www.infineon.com

Infineon Technologies Corporation is the company's North American subsidiary, with headquarters at 1730 North First Street, San Jose, CA 95112. For more information, contact 1(888) 463-4636; [phone].

Infineon and the Infineon logo are trademarks of Infineon Technologies, AG. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

Any statements in this document that are not historical facts are forward looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties; actual results may differ from the forward- looking statements. Infineon Technologies AG undertakes no obligation to publicly release the results of any revisions to these forward-looking statements that may be made to reflect events or circumstances after the date hereof or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events.