SAMSUNG ELECTRONICS AGREES TO USE NATIONAL'S REDUCED SWING DIFFERENTIAL SIGNALING (RSDS) TECHNOLOGY IN DISPLAY PANEL PRODUCTS

RSDS Gaining Momentum as Technology of Choice for Building Next-Generation, High-Resolution Digital Display Interfaces

July 29, 1999 - National Semiconductor Corporation® and Samsung Electronics Company today entered into a technology licensing agreement for the use of National's power-saving, low-noise, Reduced Swing Differential Signal (RSDS?digital interface technology. Samsung will provide column drivers for Thin-Film-Transistor (TFT) Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) panels using National's RSDS technology. A typical TFT-LCD chipset consists of National's universal interface XGA panel timing controller and Samsung's XGA column driver.

"RSDS effectively resolves the problems we have encountered supporting higher-resolution displays without increasing power usage, bus interconnect and overall cost," said Oh-Hyun Kwon, Sr. VP & General Manager at Samsung Electronics. "By partnering with National, Samsung can offer its customers an optimal TFT-LCD solution and significantly strengthen our presence in the LCD driver market of the future."

"The agreement with Samsung adds another win for National in the flat panel display interface market. We expect the adoption of RSDS technology to parallel the widespread success of the LVDS technology upon which RSDS is based," said Mitchell Abbey, product marketing manager for Interface products at National Semiconductor. "National and Samsung's collaboration addresses a real problem for customers designing display applications where TFT LCDs are commonly used. These devices are designed to work at new lows in both power consumption and EMI-radiated noise-essential qualities for systems with extended battery life, reduced weight and lower cost."

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 Samsung'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 than the TTL bus interface.

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.

For more information on National's timing controllers and Samsung's column drivers, please visit National and Samsung's World Wide Web sites respectively at http://www.national.com and http://www.samsungsemi.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 $2 billion and 11,500 employees worldwide. Additional company and product information is available on the World Wide Web at www.national.com.

About Samsung Electronics Samsung's Semiconductor Business is the no.1 supplier in Memory semiconductors and Thin Film Transistor-Liquid Crystal Displays. As a technology leader, Samsung is the first to come out with next-generation DRAMs, including the 1G DRAM. And the company holds a comprehensive portfolio providing solutions of memory devices, TFT-LCDs and System LSI devices -- MMLs, telecommunication & media components, LCD Driver ICs, etc.

Samsung's Semiconductor business is a business unit of Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. The Korea-based firm, with 1998 sales revenue of US$16.6billion, consists of three main business units: Semiconductors, Multimedia & Home Appliances, and Information & Telecommunications.

More information is available at: http://www.samsungelectronics.com & http://www.samsungsemi.com