Macronix and Nintendo Expand Scope of Cooperation; Macronix and Nintendo Sign $75 Million Equipment Lease Agreement; Scope of Cooperation Expands Into the GAME CUBE era

Business Wire, March 26, 2001

Business Editors and High-Tech/Video-Game Writers

HSIN-CHU, Taiwan--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 26, 2001

Macronix Commits Capacity to Nintendo's Demand for

GAME CUBE(TM) and GAME BOY ADVANCE(TM)

Macronix International Co. Ltd. (Nasdaq:MXICY) has announced that a lease agreement has been entered into between Macronix and Nintendo, under which Nintendo will purchase up to $75 million worth of semiconductor manufacturing equipment and lease it to Macronix.

This additional capacity will be installed in the Macronix Fab II, an 8-inch-wafer manufacturing facility located in Hsin-Chu Science-Based Industrial Park, Taiwan. In return, Macronix will designate capacity to manufacture new products to be used in Nintendo's GAME CUBE(TM) and GAME BOY ADVANCE(TM) systems.

A similar agreement of $35 million was entered into in 1995 before the launch of the famous 64-bit generation game console Nintendo64(TM). Based on the success of the previous program, both companies feel that such cooperation can be continued and further expanded. Nintendo launched GAME BOY ADVANCE(TM) just recently in March, and will start the sales of GAME CUBE(TM) in the summer of this year.

"Our relationship with Nintendo, which we cherish deeply, is growing at a very healthy pace. Our direction is clear: to grow with our customer, and Macronix will certainly continue the effort to expand our scope of cooperation with Nintendo," said Mr. Miin Wu, president and chief executive officer of Macronix. "Not only in terms of wafer capacity," he added, "but also in terms of product offerings, technology innovations and service qualities, in the coming GAME CUBE(TM) era and beyond."

Dr. Atsushi Asada, vice president of Nintendo, commented: "Nintendo is acknowledged for creativity. We demand the same from our partners. Over the years, Macronix has demonstrated themselves not only as a creative solution provider, but a reliable manufacturer as well. This has particular importance if you consider the market share we have and customers' expectations we bear. We believe it is to both parties' benefit to continue to strengthen our relationship."

Under the terms of the agreement, Macronix will dedicate capacity up to 3,000 8-inch wafers per month and its state-of-the-art process technology to serve Nintendo's demand. Besides Mask ROMs, Macronix will also supply advanced high-density flash memories, dual-channel clocks and various other logic IC's widely used in Nintendo products.

About Macronix International Co. Ltd.

Since its inception in December 1989, Macronix has been a leading provider of innovative customer/application-driven nonvolatile memory requiring state-of-the-art technology. In the past 10 years, Macronix has established remarkable world-class customers in Japan, the United States, Europe and Asia Pacific. Macronix is on the Taiwan Stock Exchange (code:2337) and was the first company based in Taiwan to be listed on NASDAQ (MXICY).

Macronix is well known as one of the world's leading suppliers of nonvolatile memory. Macronix delivers total solutions in Flash, EPROM and Mask ROM. In addition, Macronix has a strong capability to provide competitive know-how in the areas of audio, video and networking. These building blocks enable Macronix to offer System-on-a-Chip (SOC) solutions for multimedia applications in the post-PC era.

For further information, visit http://www.macronix.com.

About Nintendo Co. Ltd.

Based in Kyoto, Japan, Nintendo is the acknowledged worldwide leader in the creation of interactive entertainment. To date, Nintendo has sold more than one billion video games worldwide, created such industry icons as "Mario" and "Donkey Kong" and launched franchises like "The Legend of Zelda" and "Pokemon." Nintendo manufactures and markets hardware and software for its popular home video game systems, including the Nintendo 64 and Game Boy -- the world's best-selling video game systems.

Studies show that more than 40% of American households own a Nintendo game system, and children are as familiar with Mario as they are with Mickey Mouse and Bugs Bunny. Following their history as a record-breaking and standard-setting company, Nintendo announced plans for "GAME CUBE" -- a new system utilizing an IBM Gekko Processor and Matsushita's Unique DVD Technology, which is generally expected to bring the world of interactive entertainment to the next level.

For further information, visit http://www.nintendo.com.

Note to Editors: Nintendo64(TM), GAME CUBE(TM) and GAME BOY ADVANCE(TM) are trademarks of Nintendo Co. Ltd.