Alchemy Demonstrates 400 MHz, Half Watt Au1000™ Processor at Microsoft Windows Enbedded Developers Conference

Veteran Design Team Delivers Targeted Numbers for High Performance, Low Power Internet Edge Device Microprocessor

AUSTIN, TX -- 2/5/2001 -- Alchemy Semiconductor, Inc.™, an Austin-based fabless semiconductor company targeting the Internet Edge Device market, announced today they will demonstrate their high-performance, low power Au1000 microprocessor at the Microsoft Windows Embedded Developers Conference in Las Vegas February 6-8, 2001. Company representatives will demonstrate the Au1000's power, performance and scalability they have been planning since the company's spin-off from Cadence Design System (NASDAQ: CDN) in May of last year: 400 MHz at one-half watt; 500 MHz at 900 mW; and 200 MHz at 200 mW.

Eric Broockman, Alchemy's President and CEO, emphasized that the performance numbers are for the systems-on-chip (SOC), and not just the processor core.

"This is a demonstration of SOC performance - not just processor core performance - using a set of peripherals consistent with today's enterprise PDA devices and remote access," said Broockman. "Our customers value the performance, power and integration of the Au1000 based on standards that are relevant in their own product designs."

Alchemy Semiconductor's founding team includes prominent embedded microprocessor architects including former DEC Alpha / StrongARM design team members. In June 2000, the company announced plans for the Au1000 design - a high performance, high integration, yet low power SOC based on an Alchemy design 32-bit MIPS architecture (NASDAQ: MIPS). Designed with its customers' faster time-to-market requirements in mind, the Au1000 has highly integrated on-chip memory controllers and Internet access peripherals, and runs a variety of operating systems, including Microsoft Windows® CE, Linux®, and VxWorks®.

Linley Gwennap, founder and principal analyst of The Linley Group in Mountain View, California, hailed Alchemy's announcement from both a technical and promise of delivery standpoint.

"From the start, Alchemy set aggressive performance and power goals for its veteran design team," said Gwennap. "I'm impressed that the Au1000 has already achieved these goals in first silicon. The chip outperforms the best highly integrated low-power processors available today and should be a success in the market."

"We are pleased that Alchemy has chosen the Windows Embedded Developers Conference to be the first public showcase of its new microprocessor," said Keith White, director of marketing, Embedded and Appliance Platforms Group at Microsoft Corp. "Alchemy's highly integrated Au1000, in combination with the rich functionality of Windows CE 3.0, will help enable embedded developers to quickly bring to market high-performing Internet appliances that demand rich applications and Internet services."

Preliminary pricing for the 400 MHz version of the Au1000 has been set at $39 at 10K with limited customer sampling in February and general sampling in Q2 '01.

"I couldn't be more proud of the entire Alchemy team," CEO Broockman said. "The goals we set for ourselves were challenging, but clearly within our reach. We're very excited about the future of the company."

The Windows Embedded Developers Conference is being held at the Mandalay Resort & Casino, and Alchemy will be at Booth # 314.

About Alchemy Semiconductor
Founded in Austin, Texas, in 1999, Alchemy Semiconductor is a fabless semiconductor company that designs, develops and markets high performance, low power, high integration systems-on-a-chip (SOC) for the Internet Edge Device market: Customer Premise Equipment (CPE) products, including both wireless hand-held enterprise PDAs and remote Internet access products; Internet infrastructure products, such as routers and line cards. The company's founding team includes several of the most prominent embedded microprocessor architects and developers in the world, allowing for a combination of proven design execution and MIPS performance technology to achieve high performance, low power dissipation and systems integration in its Internet Edge Processors. Alchemy's headquarters are at 7800 Shoal Creek Blvd., Suite 222W, Austin, Texas 78757; or go to www.alchemysemi.com.