News & Events
Intersil Corporation Updates Fourth Quarter Expectations

MILPITAS, CA, December 18, 2002 - Intersil Corporation (NASDAQ: ISIL), a world leader in the design and manufacture of high performance analog and wireless networking solutions, today announced that it has revised its previous guidance for fourth quarter revenue and adjusted earnings per share. Intersil now expects revenue to grow approximately 24% over the same quarter of the prior year, with combined Analog Product Groups increasing 15% and Wireless Networking growing more than 45%. The revised guidance represents a revenue decline of approximately 5-7% from the third quarter of 2002. The company now expects adjusted earnings per share of $.18 for the fourth quarter. Intersil’s previous guidance, provided on October 23, was for revenue growth of 1-3% sequentially and adjusted earnings per share of $0.20.

For calendar year 2002, the revised guidance will result in total company growth of more than 22% in revenue and 89% in adjusted earnings per share.

“While our combined Analog revenue will grow sequentially in the fourth quarter - driven by our Power Management and Elantec Product Groups - recent factors have negatively impacted our Wireless Networking Product Group that will cause our total company fourth quarter revenue to be lower than previously expected,” said Intersil president and CEO Rich Beyer. “In the September quarter, we experienced a very high rate of shipments to our WLAN customers and this continued through October. However, over the past month we have seen a reduction in some of our customers’ short-term requirements and in the past two weeks we have actually had several significant push outs from this quarter. It now appears that some customer shipment requests for our products in the third quarter and October were ahead of end demand. But we feel confident that end user demand for PRISM-based products remains solid. In fact, the second half of 2002 appears to be up over the first half by more than 20% and over the second half of last year by greater than 90%.”

The company expects to achieve gross margins of approximately 53% for the fourth quarter and to continue to improve its balance sheet, with strong cash flow as inventories are reduced.

Due to the industry’s normal seasonal pattern, the company’s preliminary expectation is for first quarter revenue to be slightly down sequentially, excluding revenue from the Automotive Product Group. As previously announced, Intersil expects to complete its exit of the automotive business in early 2003.

“Our new product introductions in Wireless Networking are on track and design win momentum continues. We remain confident in our position as the world leader in Wi-Fi. Recent market estimates support the fact that Intersil continues to ship more WLAN chip sets than the rest of the industry combined,” added Beyer. “We expect growth in Wireless Networking - as well as our Analog business - in 2003, with acceleration likely during the second half of the year.”

Investors and interested parties within the United States may listen to Intersil’s conference call today at 4:30 p.m. Eastern/1:30 p.m. Pacific by dialing (888) 456-0282 and providing the operator with the pass code Intersil. International callers may connect to the call by dialing (712) 271-0569. A replay of Intersil’s conference call will be available for one week beginning at 6:30 p.m. Eastern/3:30 p.m. Pacific by calling (800) 756-4242 in the U.S. or (402) 998-0798 Internationally. Confirmation code for the replay is 121702. A live webcast will also be available on Intersil’s Investor Relations homepage at www.intersil.com/investor. A replay will be available until December 24, 2002.

Intersil + Elantec Means More for Our Customers
Intersil Corporation is a global semiconductor leader in the design and manufacture of high performance analog and wireless networking solutions. The acquisition of Elantec Semiconductor, Inc., expanded Intersil’s product portfolios to address four fast growing markets - flat panel displays, optical storage (CD and DVD recordable), power management and wireless networking. Intersil brings added customer value in providing complete silicon, software and reference design solutions to new products that enhance the computing experience for people wherever they live, work or travel. For more information about Intersil or to find out how to become a member of our winning team, visit the company's web site and career page at: www.intersil.com This press release concerning our fourth quarter business update (“Update”) and first-quarter outlook (“Outlook”) contains forward-looking statements as defined in Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. Such forward-looking statements are based upon Intersil Corporation’s (“Intersil”) management’s current expectations, estimates, beliefs, assumptions, and projections about Intersil’s business and industry. Words such as “anticipates,” “expects,” “intends,” “plans,” “predicts,” “believes,” “seeks,” “estimates,” “may,” “will,” “should,” “would,” “potential,” “continue,” and variations of these words (or negatives of these words) or similar expressions, are intended to identify forward-looking statements. In addition, any statements that refer to expectations, projections, or other characterizations of future events or circumstances, including any underlying assumptions, are forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and are subject to certain risks, uncertainties, and assumptions that are difficult to predict. Therefore, our actual results could differ materially and adversely from those expressed in any forward-looking statements as a result of various risk factors. Important risk factors that may cause such material differences for Intersil in connection with this Update and Outlook include, but are not limited to: the continued slowdown in the technology sector generally and the semiconductor industry specifically; the rate at which our present and future customers and end-users purchase Intersil’s high performance analog, wireless access, optical storage, and flat panel display products, which impacts our revenue and gross margins; the rate at which consumers purchase small handheld Internet appliances, portable computing devices, notebook computers, optical storage (CD and DVD recordable), video and communications technologies and products; the timing, rescheduling or cancellation of significant customer orders; the ability of our customers to manage inventory; the loss of a key customer; the qualification, availability and pricing of competing products and technologies and the resulting effects on sales and pricing of our products; silicon wafer pricing and the availability and quality of our foundry capacity and raw materials; availability, pricing, and quality of third party foundry and assembly and test capacity and raw materials; fluctuations in the manufacturing yields of our third party foundries and assembly and test facilities, and other problems or delays in the fabrication, assembly, testing or delivery of our products; the risks of producing products with new suppliers and at new fabrication and assembly and test facilities; problems or delays that we may face in shifting our products to smaller geometry process technologies; the effectiveness of Intersil’s expense and product cost control and reduction efforts; the risks inherent in acquisitions, including the acquisition of Elantec Semiconductor, Inc. (including integration issues; costs and unanticipated expenditures; changing relationships with customers, suppliers, and strategic partners; potential contractual, employment, and intellectual property issues; and the risks that the anticipated benefits of the acquisition are not realized); intellectual property disputes, customer indemnification claims, and other litigation risks; Intersil’s ability to develop, market, and transition to volume production new products and technologies in a timely manner; the quality of Intersil’s products and any repair or replacement costs; the risks and uncertainties associated with Intersil’s global operations, particularly in light of the war on terrorism; the effects of natural disasters, international conflicts and other events beyond our control; the level of orders received and the ability to fill those orders in a given fiscal quarter; and other factors. Intersil’s Annual Report on Form 10-K, subsequent Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q, recent Current Reports on Form 8-K, and other Intersil filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) (which you may obtain for free at the SEC’s web site at www.sec.gov) discuss some of the important risk factors that may affect our business, results of operations, and financial condition. These forward-looking statements are made only as of the date of this communication and Intersil undertakes no obligation to update or revise these forward-looking statements.