Cypress and Realtek Announce Hi-Speed USB 2.0 Scanner Solution

Joint Reference Design Enables High-Performance Scanner Products;Leverages Cypress CS5979AM and Realtek RTS8821 Scanner Controller

San Jose, Calif. and Hsinchu, Taiwan - April 3, 2002 - Cypress Semiconductor Corporation (NYSE: CY) and Realtek Semiconductor Corporation today announced the availability of their jointly developed hi-speed USB 2.0 scanner reference design.  This reference design incorporates Cypress’s CS5979AM USB 2.0 peripheral controller and Realtek’s RTS8821 scanner controller in a cost-effective solution that enables a breakthrough in data transfer rates for scanner applications.

“The faster speeds associated with USB 2.0 are highly beneficial to the scanner market,” said Jeff Chang, product marketing manager for Cypress Semiconductor’s Personal Communications Division. “By creating a low-cost, top-performance reference design with one of the world’s premier developers of scanner ICs, we’re enabling engineers to develop higher-speed scanner products for the consumer.”

“This reference design represents a significant performance upgrade for the scanner market,” said Daniel Huang, product planning manager for Realtek Semiconductor’s Digital Imaging Division. “Leveraging Cypress’ expertise in USB and our long experience with scanners, designers can be assured of producing leading-edge products in the shortest possible time.”

Historically, the slow peripheral interfaces available on a PC limited a scanner’s performance. Even at 12 Mbps, full-speed USB 1.1 did not have the interface speed or the performance to fill consumer needs. With the recent release of USB 2.0, scanners are able to utilize a USB interface to achieve speeds of up to 480 Mbps.  The higher performance reference design utilizing Realtek’s RTS8821 and Cypress’s CS5979AM achieves a significant milestone for the scanner industry by scanning an A4 sheet of paper at 600 dpi, in a 16-bit color mode, in less than 20 seconds.

About the Realtek Scanner Controller RTS8821

The Realtek RTS8821 supports up to 2400-dpi resolution and integrates all necessary scanning functions-including CCD/CIS Interface; 16-bit analog front end; scanning control; stepper motor control; DRAM interface; buffer management; USB 1.1; DMA interface for IEEE1394 / USB2.0; and fundamental pixel-processing-into a single chip.

Realtek also provides a full driver for all PC operating systems that support color flatbed or sheet-fed scanners.  In addition to complete functionality, cost-effectiveness and support for USB 2.0, the complete reference design solution provides great flexibility for scanner system designers, enabling highly customized applications.

For the RTS8821 detailed specifications, please contact Realtek at tel: +886-3-578-0211, fax: +886-3-577-6047, e-mail: marcom@realtek.com.tw, web: www.realtek.com.tw.

About the Cypress Peripheral Controller CS5979AM

The CS5979AM is a custom device developed specifically for the Realtek/Cypress joint reference design.  Based on the highly successful EZ-USB FX2 architecture, Cypress created a high-performance, cost-effective solution for the scanner market.

Product and Availability

The hi-speed USB 2.0 scanner reference design is certified by the USB Implementer’s Forum (USB-IF). It is currently available to scanner developers worldwide.  For more information, please contact marcom@realtek.com.tw, or visit: www.realtek.com.tw/htm/products/di/rts8821.htm.

About Cypress

Cypress Semiconductor is “Driving the Communications Revolution”™ with high-performance integrated circuits for network infrastructure and access equipment. Leveraging its process and system-level expertise, the company designs and manufactures solutions targeted across wireless and wireline communications. Cypress supports a wide range of industry standards, such as SONET (OC-48, OC-192 and OC-768), Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP), InfiniBand™ and Gigabit Ethernet. The company’s communications product lines include programmable high-speed physical layer devices (PHYs), wirespeed network search engines (NSEs) and network coprocessors (NCPs), and datapath switching elements (DSEs). Cypress is also the industry’s leader in communications timing solutions, networking-optimized communications memories and personal connectivity solutions, such as USB and Bluetooth.

Cypress is a leader in pure optical and optoelectronic technologies designed to push network transmissions to higher performance levels and to satisfy the increasing demand for network bandwidth. With a focus on emerging communications applications, Cypress aims to become the preferred silicon supplier for network infrastructure solutions and for every network data stream to pass through at least one Cypress IC.

Cypress employs 4,000 people worldwide. Its shares are listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol CY. More information about Cypress is accessible on the Web at www.cypress.com.

About Realtek

Realtek Semiconductor Corp. is one of the world's leading IC providers. It designs and develops a wide range of IC products for computer peripheral, communications network and digital imaging applications. The products include Fast/Gigabit Ethernet controllers, switch controllers, transceivers, AC'97 audio CODECs, mainboard clock generators, LCD controllers, scanner controllers and multi-function peripheral imaging processors.

With advanced core technologies — analog and mixed signal design, circuit design and manufacturing process expertise, system knowledge and IP — Realtek has been outperforming others in the industry and has achieved a global market share of over 60% in Ethernet and Fast Ethernet controllers in 2001, when Realtek was ranked among Forbes global top 200 small enterprises.

Realtek, based in Taiwan, was established in 1987, has capital assets valued at US$102 million, and employs over 400 people. Its shares are listed on the Taiwan Stock Exchange and global depositary receipts were initially offered in January this year. More information on Realtek can be found on the web: www.realtek.com.tw.

“Safe Harbor” Statement under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995:  Statements herein that are not historical facts are “forward-looking statements” involving risks and uncertainties, including by not limited to: the effect of global economic conditions, shifts in supply and demand, market acceptance, the impact of competitive products and pricing, product development, commercialization and technological difficulties, and capacity and supply constraints.  Please refer to Cypress's Securities and Exchange Commission filings for a discussion of such risks.

Cypress is a registered trademark and “Driving the Communications Revolution” and cypress.com are trademarks of Cypress Semiconductor Corporation.  All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.