News & Events
Elantec Achieves 12 Million DSL Port Milestone

MILPITAS, CALIFORNIA, March 14, 2002 -- Elantec Semiconductor, Inc. (NASDAQ: ELNT), a leader in high-performance analog ICs and DSL line drivers today announced that it has shipped xDSL line drivers for more than 12 million ports since introducing the world's first line driver in 1995.

Because each successive generation of Elantec line drivers has offered improved performance and reduced cost, the Company has steadily increased its market share. The EL1503C, EL1507C and EL1508C central office (CO) line drivers are an integral part of reference designs with four of the major DSL chipset manufacturers. In addition, the Elantec driver amplifiers, pre-driver amplifiers, and receivers for customer premise (CPE) have been designed-in and are currently being shipped by numerous CPE manufacturers.

DSLAM manufacturers have chosen Elantec's line drivers to produce very high port density line cards. Mr. Yoshikazu Nishiwaki, General Manager of Sales & Marketing, Network Systems Division of Sumitomo Electric, reports that, "Sumitomo has been able to double the port density of our new generation DSLAM MegaBit Gear CU4600 line cards by making use of the high performance, low power, and very small footprint of Elantec DSL line drivers."

Elantec DSL products are manufactured on a proprietary process technology at its wafer fab in Milpitas, California. When compared with conventional Junction Isolation processes, Elantec's proprietary Silicon On Insulator (SOI) process produces higher performance circuits that deliver excellent current drive and fidelity while using very little quiescent power. The resulting lower power and smaller die size allows the IC to fit into a smaller package, such as, the 4x4mm leadless plastic package (LPP). Tiny packages, such as the LPP, help to reduce the total footprint of the line driver solution. Moreover, lower power and smaller footprint make an ideal combination for designing leading edge, very high port count DSL line cards, which, in turn, helps to reduce costs and improve profitability for DSLAM vendors.

Kaveh Parsi, Director of Marketing for Communications Products at Elantec, said, "We feel that the 12 million port milestone is a great achievement. Today, Elantec provides the line driver for the majority of the DSL chipset manufacturers. Our high performance, innovative products and valued relationships with DSLAM vendors make Elantec a key part of the DSL solution, and an established leader in the DSL industry."

For more information please contact Kaveh Parsi at Elantec's Corporate Headquarters in Milpitas, California, at (408) 945-1323 x 373, or visit the Company's web site at www.elantec.com. Specific product details for Sumitomo's DSLAM MegaBit Gear CU4600 line cards can be found at www.megabitgear.com.

Elantec designs, manufactures and markets high performance analog integrated circuits primarily for the video, optical storage, communications and power management markets. The Company targets high growth commercial markets in which advances in digital integrated circuit technology are driving increasing demand for high speed, high performance and low power consumption analog circuits.

Certain matters discussed in this press release pertaining to the market trends, product performance and cost effectiveness are forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties. These risks and uncertainties include product introductions by the Company's competitors, competitive pricing pressures, fluctuations in manufacturing yield, changes in the mix or markets in which products are sold, availability and cost of raw materials and other risks discussed in the Company's most recent Forms 10-K and 10-Q filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Elantec is under no obligation, and expressly disclaims any obligation, to update or alter any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.