NEC Electronics’ New MultifabTM Strategy Ensures Continuous and Secure Product Supply

Time-saving Model and Worldwide Resources Provide Flexibility to Support Customer Demand

KAWASAKI, Japan, November 30, 2006, Underscoring its reputation for high-quality manufacturing standards, NEC Electronics Corporation (TSE: 6723) today announced its MultifabTM strategy, whereby customers may simultaneously qualify multiple fabrication as well as assembly and test facilities for a single design platform. This capability offers a secure semiconductor supply while delivering increased flexibility as volumes increase. Customers can take advantage of NEC Electronics’ Multifab offering that will leverage NEC Electronics’ global network of coordinated production sites, including the manufacturing facilities in Roseville, California; Kyushu and Kumamoto, Japan; and assembly and test facilities in Singapore, Japan and Malaysia.

As part of an NEC Electronics global manufacturing strategy announced in February 2006, NEC Electronics America, Inc. is expanding its semiconductor manufacturing capabilities in Roseville, California, to add a 0.15-micron process using eight-inch wafers in addition to the current 0.35- and 0.25-micron processes using six-inch wafers. Just seven months after the announcement, the pilot line is ready to begin operation with mass production capabilities expected during the summer of 2007. The primary objective for this expansion is to provide expanded capacity as well as next-generation, 0.15-micron-fabricated semiconductor devices driven by an expected increase in demand from customers primarily in the automotive industry.

In addition, NEC Kyushu has increased its eight-inch wafer production capacity by 20 percent, to 60,000 wafers per month. Furthermore, NEC Kyushu will continue to support NEC Electronics’ global manufacturing strategy by assigning approximately 20 employees to support the launch of the eight-inch wafer line at NEC Electronics America’s Roseville facility.

“The Multifab capability raises the bar and further establishes NEC Electronics as a differentiated integrated device manufacturer delivering value-added services to help customers achieve design goals,” said Yoichi Yano, senior vice president, NEC Electronics Corporation. “Today, many of our customers are adopting a platform approach to design, applying a common hardware and software architecture across different types of projects. With the ability to qualify multiple manufacturing sites to support a single platform, we can provide a secure supply chain while meeting the rigorous quality standards for which we are known.”

While NEC Electronics’ Multifab offering is available across all customer segments, it is especially important to customers who work with long product lead times and cannot react quickly to a design or supplier part change. NEC Electronics’ automotive customers, for example, will benefit from a secure product supply and the flexibility to quickly ramp volumes that the Multifab capability provides. NEC Electronics aims to become the world’s leading supplier of automotive microcontrollers (MCUs) by 2010, and believes this strategy will improve its manufacturing support for automotive customers worldwide.

The Multifab capability of simultaneous qualification provides customers with a time-saving model when compared to the traditional model that requires more time to qualify two or more facilities individually. Further, with fabrication facilities in Japan and the Americas and test and assembly facilities in Japan, Singapore and Malaysia, NEC Electronics is in a unique position to offer more regional manufacturing resources to its customers, which reduces product shipment time and reduces travel time and budget for audits.


About NEC Electronics

NEC Electronics Corporation (TSE: 6723) specializes in semiconductor products encompassing advanced technology solutions for the high-end computing and broadband networking markets, system solutions for the mobile handset, PC peripheral, automotive and digital consumer markets, and multi-market solutions for a wide range of customer applications. NEC Electronics Corporation has 24 subsidiaries worldwide including NEC Electronics America, Inc. (www.am.necel.com) and NEC Electronics (Europe) GmbH (www.eu.necel.com). For additional information about NEC Electronics worldwide, visit www.necel.com.



Multifab, NEC Electronics, NEC Electronics America, and NEC Electronics (Europe) GmbH are either registered trademarks or trademarks of NEC Electronics Corporation in the United States and/or other countries. All other registered trademarks or trademarks are property of their respective owners.

Information in the press releases, including product prices and specifications is current on the date of the press announcement, but is subject to change without prior notice.

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Sophie Yamamoto

Public Relations Assistant Manager

NEC Electronics Corporation

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