Top Tier Engineering School and Leading Silicon Valley Analog Company Align for Cleaner, Greener, More Efficient Electrical Grids, SmartPhones and Data Centers

MILPITAS, CA, and ATLANTA, GA — October 28, 2009 — Intersil Corporation (NASDAQ Global Select: ISIL), a world leader in the design and manufacture of high-performance analog and mixed-signal semiconductors, today announced a broad alliance with the Georgia Institute of Technology.  The announcement includes the opening of a major new development facility and the kickoff of several new programs dedicated to the research and development of advanced power management semiconductor technologies.

This unique alliance involves an on-campus Analog Processing Center of Excellence (ACE) and world-class research efforts across multiple Georgia Tech facilities. A keystone of the alliance will be the opening of a new 4,300 square-foot ACE Center on campus. At the Georgia Electronic Design Center (GEDC), Intersil engineers, along with Georgia Tech students and faculty, will focus on creating advanced power management circuit designs. Intersil and the Institute will also engage in joint development through a strategic alliance on advanced process technology development for semiconductors used in high-voltage power management and distribution. The new center will also utilize a technique developed at a Georgia Tech-founded company known as collaborative signal processing that removes performance-limiting impairments such as signal loss, dispersion, skew and noise.

This initiative is expected to spawn significant power savings in the electrical grid and tomorrow’s data centers.  The partnership is built on Intersil’s longstanding leadership as an expert in the development of power management technologies and recent research advances in semiconductor fabrication processes.

“The clean and efficient generation, transmission and storage of power are key challenges of the twenty-first century,” said Dave Bell, CEO, Intersil Corporation. “Intersil is delighted to be working closely with one of the world’s finest educational institutions to develop innovative technologies that will meet our needs for smarter, greener and more efficient power solutions.”

As energy costs soar and greenhouse gases accumulate, there is an increasing need for higher-voltage, higher-performance semiconductor technologies for power grids worldwide. Intersil and Georgia Tech are creating a strategic alliance to co-develop high-voltage power management circuits using breakthrough process technologies. In addition, Intersil will fund two graduate fellowships in electrical engineering.

“Georgia Tech’s partnership with Intersil is an ideal example of academic and industrial leaders joining forces to co-develop advanced real-world technologies,” said Georgia Tech President G.P. ‘Bud’ Peterson.  “Working together, we will develop sustainable energy solutions and create jobs.”

The new Analog Processing Center of Excellence (ACE) is a spinout of the Georgia Electronic Design Center and is located in the Centergy One building in Technology Square on the Georgia Tech campus. The facility already employs eight engineers who use state-of-the-art computer-aided design (CAD) tools to do complex analog systems simulation.

About Georgia Tech
The Georgia Institute of Technology is one of the nation's premier research universities. Ranked seventh among U.S. News & World Report's top public universities, Georgia Tech's more than 19,000 students are enrolled in its Colleges of Architecture, Computing, Engineering, Liberal Arts, Management and Sciences. Georgia Tech is among the nation's top producers of women and African-American engineers. The Institute offers research opportunities to both undergraduate and graduate students and is home to more than 100 interdisciplinary units.

The Georgia Electronic Design Center (GEDC) is an interdisciplinary center at Georgia Tech that supports world-class research that fosters the development of new communications technology in wireless/RF, wired/copper and fiber channel applications. Home of the nation's largest university-based mixed-signal research team, Georgia Tech's GEDC collaborates with more than 45 member companies and federal agency
partners. 

About Intersil
Intersil Corporation is a leader in the design and manufacture of high-performance analog and mixed signal semiconductors. The Company's products address some of the industry's fastest growing markets, such as flat panel displays, cell phones, notebooks and other handheld systems. Intersil’s product families address power management functions and analog signal processing functions. Intersil products include ICs for battery management, hot-plug controllers, linear regulators, power sequencers, supervisory ICs, bridge drivers, PWM controllers, switching DC/DC regulators, Zilker Labs Digital Power ICs and power MOSFET drivers; optical storage laser diode drivers; DSL line drivers; D2Audio products; video and high-performance operational amplifiers; high-speed data converters; interface ICs; analog switches and multiplexers; crosspoint switches; voice-over-IP devices; and ICs for military, space and radiation-hardened applications. 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.