July 25, 2006 – NEC Electronics Corp. has joined the International SEMATECH Manufacturing Initiative (ISMI), joining 13 other members to work on programs targeting manufacturing effectiveness and reducing cost/wafer.

“We are pleased to become part of ISMI and contribute to this growing collaboration on how to improve productivity and reduce costs in today’s and tomorrow’s fabs,” stated Hideto Goto, NEC Electronics EVP and board member, noting that ISMI’s benchmarking and productivity improvement programs “are of particular interest.”

NEC brings “a terrific amount of technical depth to our consortium of leading microchip makers,” stated Scott Kramer, ISMI director. Michael Polcari, SEMATECH’s president and CEO, added that NEC’s participation adds experience “in a wide range of computing, broadband and consumer markets.”

Current members of ISMI account for more than half the world’s semiconductor production. The roster includes nine members from SEMATECH — AMD, Freescale, H-P, IBM, Infineon, Intel, Philips, TI, and TSMC — with new ISMI members Panasonic, Philips, Renesas, Samsung, and Spansion joining since early 2004.