ChipIdea Appointed Mr. Pierre Lesieur As The Senior Vice-President Of The Company

Porto Salvo, Portugal, January 5, 2004. With effect from December 1st, 2003, Mr. Pierre Lesieur, a non-Executive Board Member of Chipidea since 1998 in representation of Atmel, has become Chipidea Senior VP in a Special Advisor role to the Company's CEO. Mr. Lesieur has devoted 30 years of his professional life to the semiconductor industry. He was with Motorola from 1974 to 1985, where he took positions of increasing responsibility in Switzerland, then in the headquarters in Phoenix, Arizona, and then back in Geneva where he supervised all European financial activities for the Semiconductor sector. In 1985, Mr. Lesieur was a co-founder of ES2, a start-up on fast turn-around ASIC design and fabrication. From 1991 to 1998, he engaged in several Managing Consulting activities assisting high-tech start-ups and large companies alike improving their industrial and economic performance. Mr. Lesieur returned to ES2 in 1998, following Atmel's acquisition of ES2, and become Director of Finance and Administration until his retirement in 2002. Mr. Lesieur will advise Chipidea's CEO on strategic business, financial and organizational issues to increase Chipidea's readiness for the international financial markets."