NATIONAL SEMICONDUCTOR ANNOUNCES TECHNOLOGY LICENSE AGREEMENT WITH SHARP CORPORATION FOR REDUCED SWING DIFFERENTIAL SIGNALING (RSDS) TECHNOLOGY

Both parties to contribute to chipset for TFT-LCD panel incorporating RSDS digital interface

April 22, 1999 - National Semiconductor Corporation® today entered into an agreement with Sharp Corporation for chipset support in XGA Thin-Film-Transistor (TFT) Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) panels that incorporate National's power-saving, low-noise, Reduced Swing Differential Signal (RSDS™) digital interface technology. Both parties will provide chipset components for XGA TFT-LCD panels that incorporate RSDS technology. A typical TFT-LCD chipset consists of National's universal interface XGA panel timing controller and Sharp Corporation's XGA column driver.

RSDS is a derivative of the Low Voltage Differential Signal (LVDS) technology used in National's FPD-Link interface chipset, a widely-used standard for notebook motherboard to flat panel display (FPD) interface.

The bus interface between the panel timing controller and column drivers has historically been a major source of EMI and power dissipation inside the panel, due to the common use of TTL-level signaling on this bus. However, with National's timing controller and Sharp's column drivers, RSDS interface signals replace TTL signals on the bus. By reducing the signal swing level and implementing a differential signaling technique, RSDS results in significantly lower power consumption and EMI levels compared to the TTL bus interface.

"These devices are leading-edge technology in the FPD marketplace," said Yoshiki Sano, Division General Manager of Systems LSI Development Center, IC Group at Sharp Corporation. "With the RSDS bus interface, they are designed to work at new lows with regards to both power consumption and EMI-radiated noise. Together, they are epoch-making devices, which combine National's RSDS technology and Sharp's column driver technology and they are key to the upgrade migration toward larger and higher-resolution TFT LCD panels. With RSDS technology, panel interface technology has made significant strides toward the next generation of flat panel displays. As this chipset has already been adopted by Sharp LCD Group, Sharp and National will make RSDS technology the de facto standard in the industry," he added.

"Lowering power and EMI are critical for portable applications where TFT LCDs are commonly used, in order to extend battery life, reduce weight and thickness, and enable quicker time to market, while ultimately lowering cost by reducing the number of components built into panels," said Mitchell Abbey, product marketing manager at National Semiconductor. "We are focused on delivering silicon solutions that address tough customer problems and this joint effort is important to the success of the FPD upswing currently taking place."

For more information on National's timing controllers, please visit National's World Wide Web site at http://www.national.com.

About National Semiconductor
National Semiconductor provides system-on-a-chip solutions for the information age. Combining real-world analog and state-of the-art digital technology, the company's chips lead many sectors of the personal computer, communications, and consumer markets. With headquarters in Santa Clara, California, National has annual sales of approximately $2 billion and 11,500 employees worldwide. Additional company and product information is available on the World Wide Web at www.national.com.

About Sharp Corporation
Sharp Corporation is a worldwide developer of core digital technologies that are playing an integral role in the emerging era of multimedia. As a leader in LCDs , optoelectronics, infrared devices and semiconductors including LCD driver, Sharp offers one of the broadest and most advanced lines of consumer electronics, business products and electronic components. Sharp provides a variety of creative solutions designed to help increase productivity while providing functionality to meet customer demand. Sharp Corporation currently employs about 65,000 people and has recorded consolidated annual sales of over $13.5 billion for the fiscal year ended March 31, 1998. For more information on Sharp's column driver, please call the following contacts: