SanDisk Names E. Earle Thompson to Chief Intellectual Property Counsel, Senior Director

Business Wire, July 26, 2004

SUNNYVALE, Calif. -- Highly Experienced Intellectual Property Attorney to Manage SanDisk's Growing Portfolio of Patents

SanDisk Corporation (Nasdaq:SNDK) today announced the appointment of E. Earle Thompson, 47, to the newly created position of chief intellectual property counsel, senior director. As the manager of SanDisk's extensive intellectual property portfolio, Thompson will report directly to Charles Van Orden, vice president and general counsel at SanDisk.

"SanDisk has a strong portfolio of flash memory and system patents that is generating significant operating margins through license and royalty revenues, and is becoming an important element of our future strategy," said Van Orden. "Earle will use his extensive experience in strategically managing and defending where necessary intellectual properties to leverage SanDisk's technological leadership with companies who may need to license our patents."

Thompson brings more than 20 years of experience in corporate and intellectual property law. Previously, he was the Intellectual Asset Manager and senior legal counsel with Texas Instruments Incorporated, responsible for worldwide contract development and negotiations, developing and implementing business and intellectual property strategy, licensing of patents and other intellectual property, and structuring and interfacing with standards development organizations.

Thompson received his J.D. from Southern Methodist University and a B.S. degree in Computer Science from the University of South Carolina.

SanDisk Corporation, the world's largest supplier of flash storage card products, designs, manufactures and markets industry-standard, solid-state data, digital imaging and audio storage products using its patented, high-density flash memory and controller technology. SanDisk is based in Sunnyvale, CA.

SanDisk's web site / home page address: http://www.sandisk.com.

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Executive and product photos are available at: http://www.sandisk.com/about/media.asp#photos.