NEC Electronics America and Avnet Electronics Team to Deliver ASIC Solutions

Companies Shine Spotlight on Capabilities of Low-Cost, Fast Turn-Around Gate Arrays

SANTA CLARA, Calif. and PHOENIX -- March 28, 2007 -- NEC Electronics America, Inc. and Avnet Electronics Marketing, an operating group of Avnet, today announced that Avnet has become a Certified Design House for NEC Electronics' gate array products in the Americas. As a result, customers in the Americas will be able to source and obtain design support for NEC Electronics' industry-leading gate array portfolio from Avnet. As a Certified Design House, engineers in Avnet's design centers will apply their expertise, including RTL development, design implementation, intellectual property (IP) core integration, RTL verification, timing closure, physical design and sign- off, to implement fully NEC Electronics' gate array products.

"NEC Electronics' gate array portfolio enhances Avnet's current offering in ASIC technologies," said Rafael Cruz, vice president of Engineering Services for Avnet Electronics Marketing. "NEC Electronics, the number one gate array supplier in the world, is a world-class supplier with leading-edge products, and Avnet becoming a Certified Design House for NEC Electronics America is an example of our solid working partnership."

Design teams from start-up companies with limited funds, to system manufacturers or fabless semiconductor companies with aggressive product cycles can use gate arrays in a wide range of communications, computer, consumer, industrial and office automation products where cost, ease of design, and turn-around time are critical success factors. Gate arrays serve a robust market between cell-based ASICs and field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), and offer designers many benefits. As a leading gate array supplier for more than 20 years and the number one supplier since 1993, NEC Electronics can deliver engineering samples in as little as a week from product tape-out, with non-recurring engineering (NRE) fees starting as low as $10K and unit costs as low as $1 in volume quantities. (Pricing and availability are subject to change.) On average, NEC Electronics tapes out 200 gate array designs a year worldwide.

"NEC Electronics continues to be a leading integrated device manufacturer (IDM) on a global basis, a strength for NEC Electronics America, which is committed to aggressively expanding its ASIC business by offering a variety of solutions to designers," said Kazu Yamada, vice president and general manager, Custom SoC Solutions strategic business unit, NEC Electronics America. "Avnet has been our strategic distribution partner for eight years, and we have seen first-hand the positive results they can achieve. By expanding our relationship to tap Avnet's design services, we can extend the reach of our gate array technology to serve the broad range of design teams that use Avnet's capabilities for successful custom logic implementation."

Designers can use gate arrays in a variety of applications including applications to add new features to a system-on-chip (SoC) for product differentiation, reduce electromagnetic interference (EMI), increase product security, or to extend the life of a discontinued ASIC or ASSP. For other ideas to leverage NEC Electronics' low-cost gate array technology, visit http://www.am.necel.com/gatearray and download a copy of NEC Electronics America's Gate Array Idea Book.

About Avnet Electronics Marketing

Avnet Electronics Marketing is an operating group of Phoenix-based Avnet, Inc., a Fortune 500 company. Avnet Electronics Marketing serves electronic original equipment manufacturers (EOEMs) and electronic manufacturing services (EMS) providers in 70 countries, distributing electronic components from leading manufacturers and providing associated design-chain and supply-chain services. The group's Web site is located at http://www.em.avnet.com.

About Avnet

With more than 250 locations serving customers in 70 countries worldwide, Avnet markets, distributes and adds value to the products of the world's leading electronic component suppliers, enterprise computer manufacturers and embedded subsystem providers. Additionally, Avnet brings a breadth and depth of service capabilities, such as supply-chain optimization, logistics solutions, product assembly, device programming, computer system integration and engineering design assistance. For the fiscal year ended July 1, 2006, Avnet generated revenue of $14.25 billion. Visit http://www.avnet.com/.

About NEC Electronics America, Inc.

 NEC Electronics America, Inc., headquartered in Santa Clara, California, is a wholly owned subsidiary of NEC Electronics Corporation (TSE: 6723), a leading provider of semiconductor products encompassing advanced technology solutions for the broadband and communications markets; system solutions for the mobile, PC, automotive and digital consumer markets; and multi-market solutions for a wide range of customer applications. NEC Electronics America offers local manufacturing in Roseville, California, and the global manufacturing capabilities of its parent company. In the Americas, NEC Electronics America markets and sells industrial-type, active-matrix LCD modules from NEC LCD Technologies, Ltd., a global leader in innovative display technologies. More information about the products offered by NEC Electronics America can be found at http://www.am.necel.com.