Actel Rolls Out New Line of Automotive FPGAs

eX Solutions Provide High Reliability, Extreme Temperature Operation, Fast Design Time and Low Development Cost for Automotive Applications

SUNNYVALE, Calif., April 7, 2003 - Underscoring its commitment to deliver best-in-class high-reliability products, Actel Corporation (Nasdaq: ACTL) today announced a new line of field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs) targeted specifically for the automotive market. Characterized for operation from -40°C to 125°C ambient temperature and up to 150°C junction temperature, the highest temperatures among competitive FPGA solutions, the initial offering includes all members of Actel's successful eX family with plans to extend the automotive line to also include the company's MX and SX-A families. Leveraging the inherent low power, high performance, low cost and security benefits of Actel's nonvolatile antifuse technology, Actel's automotive FPGAs enable designers to use programmable logic for their traditionally low-density application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) requirements. The new automotive products are well suited to in-cab control and interconnect functions for a range of telematic applications, such as navigation, speech recognition, control/comfort systems, passenger monitors and heads-up displays.

"The introduction of our new automotive eX FPGAs is a timely one, as the design benefits of programmable logic solutions address the growing demand for more advanced, more converged in-cab applications," said Barry Marsh, vice president of product marketing at Actel Corporation. "Further, with the acknowledged benefits of our single-chip, nonvolatile technologies in combination with our long history of delivering highly reliable solutions, Actel's automotive products deliver the features and small package flexibility automotive customers need to speed time to market without compromising cost or performance while offering improved quality and durability for in-cab automotive systems."

Actel's automotive eX family includes three products, the eX64A, eX128A and the eX256A, and is available in 2.5- or 3.3-V operating modes. For these new automotive solutions, Actel offers customers the industry's broadest package portfolio certified to extended automotive temperature, including chip scale (CS) and fine-pitch ball-grid array (FBGA).

Optimized Intellectual Property

Actel also offers customers a broad portfolio of IP specifically designed and optimized for in-cab automotive applications. Initially, Actel and its partners Memec Design, Amphion Semiconductor, Inc., CAST, Inc. and Inicore, Inc. will offer more than 30 IP cores for Actel's automotive solutions, including: CAN, I2C interface, SPI, Z80CPU, MC-ACT-6809 CPU, Reed Solomon and DES/3DES/AES. By providing customers with pre-designed IP, Actel helps reduce design time and provides the ability to integrate multiple design elements into a one-chip solution, reducing an application's component count and cost.

"Since 1996, we've supported common automotive IP, such as the CAN bus, and our products are used by customers worldwide," said Dr. Richard Joy, vice president at Memec Design. "With the huge market opportunity for FPGA technology in the growing automotive market, Memec Design is excited to be involved with Actel and we intend to support its venture fully."

Pricing and Availability

The automotive eX family is available now in production-level volumes with prices below $2 per unit in 100K quantities. Actel's automotive MX and SX-A solutions are expected to be available in early Q3 2003. For more information about Actel's automotive solutions, please visit the Actel web site at http://www.actel.com/products/auto/index.html.

About Actel

Actel Corporation is a supplier of innovative programmable logic solutions, including field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs) based on antifuse and flash technologies, high-performance intellectual property (IP) cores, software development tools and design services, targeted for the high-speed communications, application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) replacement and radiation-tolerant markets. Founded in 1985, Actel employs approximately 500 people worldwide. The Company is traded on the Nasdaq National Market under the symbol ACTL and is headquartered at 955 East Arques Avenue, Sunnyvale, Calif., 94086-4533. Telephone: 888-99-ACTEL (992-2835). Internet: http://www.actel.com.

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