Alchemy Semiconductor Earns Distinction For Austin's "Most Innovative Hardware Product"

Fourth Annual Austin Players Awards Honors Alchemy Au1000's Early and Strong Entry into Competitive Marketplace

AUSTIN, TX -- 4/23/2001 -- Alchemy Semiconductor, Inc., an Austin-based fabless semiconductor company targeting the Internet Edge Device market, was awarded the top honor for "Most Innovative Hardware Product" at the Technical Business Network's 4th Annual Austin Players Entertainment and Awards Event (held Friday evening, April 20 th) at the Renaissance Hotel. Alchemy was chosen over six other companies in the hardware category based on the attributes for its Au1000 high performance, low power and highly integrated microprocessor introduced in June 2000. The Alchemy Au1000 is the first to market with a microprocessor in its performance and power class.

"The Austin Players Award is a sound honor and endorsement for Alchemy in the Austin community. We are proud to be recognized by the TBN and we believe this accolade also gives the Austin community recognition as an emerging semiconductor and hardware producer in the country," said Eric Broockman, Alchemy's President and CEO. "A lot of resources - including human manpower and energy - have gone into making the Au1000 a reality, so this is not only gratifying for our employees, but our investors and customers, as well."

The Au1000 is Alchemy's first product from its Internet Edge Processor family since its launch as an independent company from Cadence Design Systems in May 2000 with a $15 million first round of venture capital financing from Austin Ventures, Telos Ventures and US Venture Partners. Since then, the company has doubled in size, anticipates reaching the 100 employee mark in the second half of the year, and will be announcing its second product later this year.

Additional awards were presented in the Software, Service, e-Business, Bridge and Hall of Fame categories with winners being selected based on product innovation, company growth, customer acquisitions, alliances in the marketplace and potential for widespread adoption of the technology or service.

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

About Technical Business Network (TBN)
Founded in 1995 in Austin, Texas as a non-profit professional membership organization committed to fostering business leadership for technology companies, TBN has gained a reputation as a dynamic and high-quality organization. TBN links diverse companies, together, provides access to business resources, and serves as a focal point for navigating within global technology communities. We help companies succeed by providing forums to introduce new perspectives, providing access to seasoned professionals, and offering opportunities to form corporate alliances. Our membership base is founded upon small and medium-sized companies that are rapidly growing and emerging, who provide or use technology as their primary business interest. The membership is presently over 400 companies and 3100+ member states and 17 countries.

All names, product names, and tradenames contained in this press release are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respected holders.