*****For immediate use September 3^rd, 2001

NEC Develops 64Mb Dual-Operation Flash Memory for Ultra-Low-Power Mobile Applications

"µPD29F064115,µPD29F064215"

Sample shipments are scheduled to begin in October, with a shift to volume production from January 2002 at a total production amount of one million units per month. The planned sample price is $50 (USD).

Main features of the new products:

One of the Industry's lowest operation voltages of Vcc=1.65V minimum (1.8V +/- 0.15V) has been achieved. This voltage is one of the lowest voltages for flash memory products making it ideal for low- power mobile applications.

Page-read function with a high-speed page access time of 30ns (nano-seconds). The page-read function supports two page modes (4-word random mode and 8-word sequential access mode) allowing a large improvement on system performance.

Dual operation with 4-bank architecture is employed in order to enhance flexibility. 8Mb + 24Mb + 24Mb + 8Mb bank architecture enables efficient simultaneous read/write operations, taking into account that the ratio of code and data storage may vary form application to application. In addition, while program or erase operation is carried out in one of the four storage banks, read operation from any of the other three storage banks is possible. Two 8Mb-storage banks contain 4K-word x 8 boot sectors, covering conventional top-boot and bottom-boot architecture in one product.

The uPD29F064115 has a separate 1.8V I/O power supply pin (Vccq) and 3V power supply pin (Vcc), for systems with 3-volt data bus. The uPD29F064215 operates at single 1.8V power supply.

The evolution of the internet and wireless mobile systems has introduced new mobile applications such as next-generation mobile phones and PDAs with wireless communication function, which requires high performance flash memory with large density to store code and data and improve speed. To enable the increased functionality without shortening the operation time the need for low-power consumption, large density and high-speed flash memory is clear. To meet these calls from the market, NEC has developed the new 64Mb flash memory with an ultra-low operation at 1.65V, a page-read mode and dual-operation function ideal for the new wave of mobile applications.

The new devices will be offered as TSOP and FBGA packages, and as stacked multi-chip packages (S-MCP's), which combine flash memory with mobile specified RAM or SRAM.

About NEC Corporation

NEC Corporation (NASDAQ: NIPNY) (FTSE: 6701q.l) is a leading provider of Internet solutions, dedicated to meeting the specialized needs of its customers in the key computer, network and electron device fields through its three market-focused in-house companies: NEC Solutions, NEC Networks and NEC Electron Devices. NEC Corporation, with its in-house companies, employs more than 150,000 people worldwide and saw net sales of 5,409 billion Yen (approx. US$43 billion) in fiscal year 2000-2001. For further information, please visit the NEC home page at: http://www.nec.com

• Main specifications of the µPD29F064115 / µPD29F064215

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NEC Press Contacts:

In Japan Daniel Mathieson NEC Corporation TEL: +81-3-3798-6511 E-mail:d-mathieson@bu.jp.nec.com