Microchip Technology Kicks Off Annual Summer Technical Exchange.

Business Editors/High-Tech Writers

CHANDLER, Ariz.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--July 19, 2001

Microchip Technology Inc. (Nasdaq: MCHP) Thursday kicked off Microchip's Annual Summer Technical Exchange Review (MASTER's) in Phoenix with more than 500 leading worldwide embedded designers attending the four-day event.

In its fifth year, MASTER's provides design engineers with an annual forum for sharing and exchanging technical information on the company's PICmicro(R) microcontrollers, high-performance linear and mixed-signal solutions, KEELOQ(R) security devices, dsPIC(TM) digital signal controllers and microID(TM) RFID devices.

Attendees can select from more than 50 technical courses, including "Op Amp Circuits Using SPICE Macromodels," "In-Circuit Debugging and PICmicro Code Development" and "DSP Algorithms Using PIC18CXXX." Other activities include a robot-building competition, meeting with third-party development tool experts and a wafer fab plant tour.

Participants gain a thorough understanding of how to design and develop embedded control applications using Microchip's extensive product portfolio.

"MASTER's is an intense technical conference that gives leading embedded engineers the ability to use Microchip's products to their fullest advantage," said Ken Pye, director of Applications Programs for Microchip.

"In addition to Microchip's experts and course instructors, attendees benefit from sharing their design expertise with other world-class engineers, providing a rich environment to learn new techniques and to enable professional development. Given its worldwide popularity, MASTER's is being expanded into separate events this fall in China, India and Russia."

Microchip Technology Inc. manufactures the popular PICmicro(R) field-programmable RISC microcontrollers, which serve 8- and 16-bit embedded control applications, and a broad spectrum of high-performance linear and mixed-signal, power management and thermal management devices.

The company also offers complementary microperipheral products including interface devices; microID(TM) RFID devices; serial EEPROMs; and the patented KEELOQ(R) security devices. This synergistic product portfolio targets thousands of applications and a growing demand for high-performance designs in the automotive, communications, computing, consumer and industrial control markets.

The company's quality systems are ISO 9001 (1994 version) and QS9000 (1998 version) certified. Microchip is headquartered in Chandler with design facilities in Mountain View, Calif.and Bangalore, India; semiconductor fabrication facilities in Tempe and Chandler, Ariz. and Puyallup, Wash.; and assembly and test operations near Bangkok, Thailand.

Microchip employs approximately 2,950 people worldwide and has sales offices throughout Asia, Europe, Japan and the Americas. More information on the company can be found at www.microchip.com.

Note: The Microchip name and logo, PIC, PICmicro, MPLAB and KEELOQ are registered trademarks of Microchip Technology Inc. in the United States and other countries. dsPIC and microID are trademarks of Microchip Technology Inc. in the United States and other countries. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.