Altera Delivers 2 Millionth Cyclone Device to Matsushita Electric

Fastest FPGA Ramp Ever Continues to Accelerate

San Jose, Calif., April 20, 2004 — Altera® Corporation (NASDAQ: ALTR) today announced that shipments of its low-cost Cyclone™ FPGA have hit the two million mark.  With the two millionth device delivered to Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd, Cyclone devices are Altera’s fastest ramping FPGA family ever.  The Cyclone family has proven to be a compelling low-end ASIC alternative for designers in cost-sensitive applications such as automotive control and telematics, small office/home office (SOHO) networking and communications, digital video, and consumer displays.

“Altera’s ability to deliver high-volume quantities of Cyclone devices has been critical to the successful rollout of our AG-DVX100A digital video camera products,” said Akihito Natatsukasa, Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd., Panasonic AVC Networks Company, System Business Group.  “We require the lowest cost, the highest design flexibility, uncompromising performance, and availability in production quantities, all of which we can get only with the Cyclone family.”

In addition to the first million devices shipped during the course of last year, the company shipped an additional one million units in the first quarter of this year alone.  Designed from the ground up for low cost, shipments of Cyclone devices commenced just 15 months ago and are already in the hands of more than 2,700 customers around the world.

“Cyclone’s shipments in the first three months of 2004 are impressive, as is the family’s rapid customer adoption in just over a year,” said Cary Snyder, chief analyst at SemiView Inc.  “This unprecedented ramp clearly establishes Cyclone as a leader in the low-cost FPGA category.”

“This milestone from Altera represents the industry’s most successful rollout of 0.13-micron products and is due, in part, to our strong relationship with TSMC,” stated Erik Cleage, Altera’s senior vice president of marketing.  “The Cyclone family’s rapid acceptance and our ability to meet our commitments to all our customers provide us significant advantages over competitive products in the low-cost FPGA market.”

About the Cyclone Device Family
Built from the ground up to ensure the lowest possible cost, Cyclone devices are the industry’s lowest-cost FPGAs available today.  Cyclone devices are manufactured on TSMC’s advanced 0.13-micron, all-layer-copper process and were developed to provide designers of high-volume, price-sensitive applications with the flexibility of an FPGA at ASIC prices.  With support for leading-edge and emerging I/O standards, the Cyclone device family includes embedded RAM blocks and other features to put FPGA technology in the hands of designers developing volume-driven applications in the automotive, consumer, and computing markets.  For more information about the Cyclone device family, visit www.altera.com/cyclone.

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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