NATIONAL SEMICONDUCTOR INVESTS $100 MILLION TO EXPAND 8-INCH WAFER FACILITY IN SANTA CLARA, CALIF.

July 22, 1997 -- National Semiconductor Corporation will break ground today on a $100 million expansion of its 8-inch wafer facility in Santa Clara, Calif. The expansion will add 100 jobs.

The investment adds 15,000 square feet of Class 1 cleanroom space to National's Advanced Technology Group (ATG) wafer fab. The ATG facility, currently 25,000 square feet, serves as National's research and development fab where the company develops, evaluates and tests the latest manufacturing processes and tools. As these processes and tools are perfected, they are replicated and transferred to National's state-of-the-art, commercial production fab in South Portland, Maine.

The ATG expansion advances National's commitment to its three strategic business imperatives: state-of-the-art process technology, world class manufacturing and six month time-to-market. Circuitry etched on the silicon wafers at ATG will begin at .35-micron with the ability to migrate to .25- and .18-micron geometries.

"Expanding this facility is consistent with National's goal to put systems on a chip for our key trendsetting data highway partners," said Kamal Aggarwal, National's executive vice president of manufacturing. "We'll now have more room to pilot the latest equipment and processes to drive higher levels of integration and functionality on a chip."

Jobs created by the expansion include engineers, technicians and fab operators. National will provide first consideration for these jobs to employees of its 5- and 6-inch wafer fab lines in Santa Clara. In May 1997, the company announced it was closing those manufacturing lines because they utilize older technologies to produce mature products.

The ATG fab expansion strengthens National's ties to Silicon Valley as its location for process and product design, R&D efforts and headquarters administrative activities. Construction is projected to be completed by the end of May 1998.

National Semiconductor Corporation, a Fortune 500 company, produces system on a chip silicon solutions for the information highway, based on its leadership in analog and mixed signal technologies. National is headquartered in Santa Clara, California, and focuses on the communications, personal systems and consumer markets. National has annual sales of approximately $2 billion and 12,500 employees worldwide. Additional company and product information is available on the World Wide Web at www.national.com.