Altera Ships Quartus II Design Software for New Stratix II Family to 20,000 Customers

Stratix II Offers Designers Over 65 Percent More Density than Competitive Products

San Jose, Calif., February 9, 2003—Altera Corporation (NASDAQ: ALTR) today announced that it has commenced delivering design support for the Stratix™ II family of FPGAs to more than 20,000 customers. Version 4.0 of the Quartus® II design software fully supports the enhanced features and capabilities of the Stratix II family, the industry’s biggest, fastest and most advanced FPGAs. Using an innovative new logic structure and designed on TSMC’s NexsysSM 90-nm low-k process, Stratix II devices offer over 65 percent more density and 50 percent higher performance than any competitive products. The Stratix II family ranges in density from 15,000 to 180,000 equivalent logic elements.

“The combination of the Stratix II family and our Quartus II software allows Altera to functionally address nearly 75 percent of the total ASIC market.  Both ASIC and FPGA designers can now use Quartus II software to begin designing systems with unprecedented levels of complexity and integration, and fully leverage the advantages of programmable logic,” said Erik Cleage, senior vice president at Altera.  “Together with the runaway success of our low-cost Cyclone™ family, already sold to more than 2,200 customers, Altera has clear product leadership across the entire FPGA market space.”

Altera enjoys a highly successful long-standing partnership with TSMC, the world’s pre-eminent foundry supplier.  As a result of the powerful, 10-year alliance between the companies, Altera has shipped more than 1.5 million all-copper 0.13-µm devices–an order of magnitude more than any other PLD vendor.  This stellar execution at the 0.13-µm node has raised the bar for the programmable industry.  Altera’s products on the 90-nm and low-k process are likewise expected to roll out smoothly.

“The Stratix II devices are the only 90-nm, low-k FPGAs in the marketplace,” said Cleage.  “Not only is low-k vital to attaining maximum performance and reducing power consumption, but it is clear from industry trends that low-k will be the mainstream technology at the 90-nm node.”

About Quartus II Design Software
Altera’s Quartus® II design software is the industry’s most technologically advanced development software for FPGA, CPLD, and structured ASIC designs. The Quartus II design software includes a suite of advanced system-level design features, access to Altera’s extensive intellectual property portfolio, an advanced place-and-route engine including physical synthesis optimization technology, and comprehensive verification solutions. Quartus II software also integrates seamlessly with all leading third-party synthesis and simulation tools. For more information about Quartus II design software, visit www.altera.com/software. A free version of the software, Quartus II Web Edition, can be downloaded from the Altera web site at www.altera.com/q2webedition. 

About the Stratix II Device Family
Stratix II FPGAs are the industry’s biggest and fastest FPGAs.  Developed with an innovative new logic structure, Stratix II devices offer over twice the logic density and 50 percent higher performance at 40 percent lower cost than first-generation Stratix devices.  The Stratix II FPGA family is built on TSMC’s 90-nm, all-copper process, using low-k dielectric material on 300-mm wafers.  The new logic structure allows designers to conserve device resources by packing more functionality into a smaller area.  For more information about Stratix II devices, please visit www.altera.com/stratix2.

About Altera
Altera Corporation (NASDAQ: ALTR) is the world’s pioneer in system-on-a-programmable-chip (SOPC) solutions.  Combining programmable logic technology with software tools, intellectual property, and technical services, Altera provides high-value programmable solutions to approximately 14,000 customers worldwide.  More information is available at www.altera.com.

 
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