NATIONAL SEMICONDUCTOR AUTHORIZES SEMI DICE TO DISTRIBUTE BARE DIE PRODUCTS

July 19, 2000 - National Semiconductor (NYSE:NSM) today announced certification of Semi Dice Bare Die Distribution, headquartered in Los Alamitos, California, as an authorized North American distributor for small form factor bare die products. This relationship became effective on June 15, 2000.

Although Semi Dice historically supplies bare die components for use in hybrid, MCM (Multi-Chip Module) and COB (Chip On Board), National expects this alliance to spur new growth roots of bare die in the computer, commercial, industrial controls, instrumentation, automotive, and Hi-Rel markets.

National products now available from Semi Dice include selected bare die parts from National's analog, interface and digital product lines. Analog bare die products include audio amplifiers, comparators, data acquisition, filters, op amps, buffers, switch capacitors, DC-DC switching regulators including Simple Switcher®, timers, voltage regulators. Interface bare die products consist of transmission line drivers/receivers, bus transceivers, peripheral/power drivers). Digital bare die products from National include microcontroller, microprocessor (Geode™ GXm, Companion I/O), system test access (SCAN), telecommunications, WAN/LAN Network, wireless PLL (Phased Lock Loops) and military/space logic products.

According to New York research group Prismark Partners LLC, the bare die market is expected to grow from $3.2B in 1998 to $8.1B in 2003 and will increase as a percentage of IC consumption. This dramatic surge can be attributed to explosive growth in the traditional wireless communications market (cellular telephones, pagers, and personal digital assistants) coupled with the emergence of smaller, lighter handheld devices combining individual communication functions with computer functions.

About Semi Dice
Semi Dice has supplied die and wafers to the electronics industry for twenty-four years. It is the only die processor to offer both active and passive components. The company shipped over 33 million die to over 500 accounts in 1999 from stocking locations in Long Island, New York, South Easton, Massachusetts, and Los Alamitos, California. Each Distribution Center provides personalized service and maintains custom inventories for clients within their regions.

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 reported sales of $2 billion for its last fiscal year and has about 10,500 employees worldwide. Additional company and product information is available on the World Wide Web at www.national.com.