National Names Dr. Gobi Padmanabhan Head of Process Technology

SANTA CLARA, Calif., -- June 3, 1996 -- National Semiconductor Corporation today announced the appointment of Dr. Gobi Padmanabhan as senior vice president, process technology. He was formerly senior director, process development, for LSI Logic Corporation.

In his new position, Padmanabhan will lead a team responsible for developing advanced process technologies such as deep sub-micron CMOS.

"Pad is a tremendous addition to National's technology team, a team that just this week is delivering its first .35 micron CMOS 7 product from our new 200mm wafer fab in Santa Clara," said Brian Halla, chairman and chief executive officer. "He'll be helping us take the next steps into even deeper sub-micron technologies -- and the leadership position in analog and mixed signal products."

Padmanabhan will report to Halla on an interim basis, pending the announcement of the remainder of the executive organization expected shortly. Process technology is one of three key focus areas around which the organization will be formed. The other two are world-class manufacturing and accelerated time-to-market for new products.

"Resolving the ownership and execution in these strategic areas will give us a solid foundation for our future success," Halla said.

Dr. Padmanabhan began his electronics career with the semiconductor division of Bharat Electronics Ltd. of Bangalor, India, where he was manager of CMOS products. He worked for both National and Fairchild before joining Performance Semiconductor as its Manager of Process Development in 1985. He joined Alliance Semiconductor in 1989, and moved to LSI Logic in 1990. Padmanabhan holds undergraduate and master's degrees in physics and solid state physics from the University of Madras and a Ph.D. in physics from the Indian Institute of Technology in New Delhi.

National Semiconductor Corporation provides technologies for moving and shaping information. The company focuses on four strategic markets: communications, personal systems, industrial, and consumer. National Semiconductor is headquartered in Santa Clara, California, and has 20,000 employees worldwide. In fiscal 1995, the company reported sales of $2.4 billion.