IBM AND INTERSIL ANNOUNCE FOUNDRY SERVICES AGREEMENT

Intersil's Endura ICs power CPUs, chip sets, memory, graphics, buses and ports for desktop PCs, servers and portable computing appliances. Devices that regulate power and charge batteries in handheld equipment, power systems in broadband gateways and PC peripherals including graphics cards are also part of Intersil's power management IC portfolio.

IBM plans to reserve capacity for Intersil's power management IC's manufactured in Intersil's P6 process.  Over the life of the agreement, however, the parties may extend the agreement to cover additional processes, including potentially jointly developed processes. The agreement marks an expansion of IBM's foundry services capabilities into power management and other high-performance analog applications. IBM plans to begin manufacturing Intersil's power management ICs in the first quarter next year.

"We believe that increasingly customers will require deep relationships with their chip manufacturers, to use advanced technologies to create differentiation for their products in the marketplace," said Bernie Meyerson, Vice President and Chief Technologist, IBM Technology Group. "IBM plans to work closely with Intersil to help augment Intersil's P6 process with some of our own process technologies. This is unique, and takes an amazing amount of technical know how that only a leader like IBM can deliver."

"We look forward to added manufacturing capacity in our foundry relationship with IBM to help meet the growing demand for Intersil's Endura power management ICs," said Rick Furtney, Vice President and General Manager of Intersil's High Performance Analog Product Group. "This foundry agreement will enable us to offer our customers a second Intersil source for our Endura ICs and build on our leading position in desktop, notebook and peripheral power management.  We have tremendous confidence in IBM Microelectronics and believe that the addition of their world-class process development and foundry services will help serve the needs of our global customers well into the future.  Customers can be assured that we are now strongly positioned to meet their growth needs because both of our highest-volume wafer fab processes for power management are now dual-sourced."

About IBM Microelectronics
IBM Microelectronics is a key contributor to IBM's role as the world's premier information technology supplier. It develops, manufactures and markets state-of-the-art semiconductor and interconnect technologies, products and services. Its superior integrated solutions can be found in many of the world's best-known electronic brands.  IBM is a recognized innovator in the chip industry, having been first with advances like more power-efficient copper wiring in place of aluminum, faster silicon-on-insulator (SOI) and silicon germanium transistors, and improved low-k dielectric insulation between chip wires. These and other innovations have contributed to IBM's standing as the number one U.S. patent holder for 10 consecutive years. More information about IBM Microelectronics can be found at: http://www.ibm.com/chips.

About Intersil
Intersil Corporation is a leader in the design and manufacture of high performance analog semiconductors.  The company's products address three of the industry's fastest growing markets ? flat panel displays, optical storage (CD and DVD recordable) and power management.  For more information about Intersil or to find out how to become a member of our winning team, visit the company's web site and career page at: www.intersil.com

Voor meer informatie:

Etta Pouw
Communications
IBM Nederland N.V.
Johan Huizingalaan 761
1066 VH Amsterdam
Tel: 020 513 4228
Fax: 020 617 7600