Minister Ahern opens Altera’s new Cork Centre

Minister Michael Ahern T.D., Minister for Trade and Commerce, today (Thursday 18^th November 2004) officially opened the new European Shared Services Centre of Altera European Trading Co. Ltd., part of Altera Corporation of the US, which has been established with the support of IDA Ireland, at the Cork Airport Business Park in Cork.

Altera is a leading manufacturer of programmable logic devices, which is one of the fastest growing sectors of the semiconductor industry. It plans to create up to 60 new high-level jobs over the next five years at the Cork Centre.

Minister Ahern said “I congratulate Altera on the rapid start-up of this Centre, which was announced in early August 2004, and the impressive speed of recruitment which has seen 20 of the expected 60 staff already in place. This operation is precisely the kind of investment that the Government and IDA Ireland are seeking to attract here to further enhance our position as a knowledge economy.”

“Altera has confirmed that the Cork Centre will be a key site for the company in Europe. This decision is a further important recognition of Ireland’s established reputation as a cost effective base and a leading location for such strategic high-level knowledge-intensive support services centres. It is also an endorsement of our continuing ability to provide the calibre of people required for such activities,” said the Minister.

Tim Colleran, Vice President of European Business Operations for Altera Corporation said, “The fact that Altera was able to recruit and train the people to make this Centre operational this quickly is a direct result of the high-calibre talent pool in Ireland. 25% of Altera’s business comes from the European market and this Cork Centre is positioned to play a key role in maintaining and growing this customer base.”

Minister Ahern continued “The rapid start-up of the Centre reflects very well on the people of Cork, and indeed of the South-West Region as a whole, and is a further notable success for the Region and its ability to attract leading-edge international investments.

It follows a number of recent IDA-supported successes for Cork, which have seen a range of high-calibre facilities, from international companies in a number of sectors, establish there – companies such as Centocor, AK pharmaceuticals, McAfee and Ecora Software.”

Altera is joining a family of highly successful IDA-supported overseas companies in Cork which currently employ over 18,000 people. In the past two years such companies have announced 16 new investments for Cork City and County, which will bring-on-stream over 1,550 new high calibre jobs in the coming years.

“This Altera investment once again underpins the need for Ireland to maintain an on-going supply of suitably qualified and skilled people across a range of disciplines. It is therefore a further endorsement of the Government’s strategy of investing in our educational system. The result of which is our continual ready availability of high-calibre graduates and skilled people which are Ireland’s principal attraction for the new emerging industries and businesses of the future – particularly for the people-intensiveactivities – such as Shared Services Centres.

ENDS/TC125

Notes for Editors

About Altera and its Cork investment

Altera is establishing the Cork Centre to centralise a number of key functions at one location in order to achieve greater efficiencies. Functions will include management of the complex network of independent European distributors; product pricing; contract negotiations; and financial shared services. Europe accounts for about 25% of Altera’s worldwide sales. Altera’s European Headquarters will remain in High Wycombe, UK.

Altera invented the first reprogrammable logic device over twenty years ago. Its continual introduction of new innovative products, combined with operational excellence, enables Altera to gain valuable market share around the world.

Altera’s products, programmable logic devices (PLDs), are integrated circuits that allow electronic system manufacturers to customise a semiconductor based on their application needs. Altera’s product portfolio ranges from low-density, low cost PLDs for use in high volume cost sensitive applications such as DVD players, digital TVs and video recorders, to high density PLDs that allow an entire system to be implemented on one single chip that previously required a full printed circuit board, such as those in routers, mobile base stations and computer servers. PLDs help manufacturers to cut development costs and shorten delivery time of their products to market.

Altera Corporation (NASDAQ: ALTR) is the world’s pioneer in system-on-a-programmable-chip (SOPC) solutions. Founded in 1983, Altera combines programmable logic technology with software tools, intellectual property, and technical services. With revenues in 2003 of US$827 million, Altera employs approximately 2,000 people worldwide and provides high-value programmable solutions to approximately 14,000 customers worldwide.

More information about Altera is available at www.altera.com.

ENDS