Atmel Completes Sale of Company's Wafer Fabrication Operation in Germany

Atmel® Corporation (Nasdaq: ATML - News) today announced that it has completed the previously announced sale of the Company's wafer fabrication operation in Heilbronn, Germany to Tejas Silicon Holdings (UK) Limited ("TSH(UK)"), enabling Atmel to achieve its goal of reducing the number of its manufacturing facilities from five to two in 2008.

"Today's announcement is a further step in our aggressive transformation plan to enhance Atmel's competitive position and unlock the value inherent in Atmel for our stockholders," said Steven Laub, Atmel's President and Chief Executive Officer. "Atmel continues to increase its focus on and investment in its high-growth, high margin proprietary product lines. We have already divested or shut down 14 non-core product lines, while consolidating or streamlining others. In addition, we have divested or closed three wafer fabrication facilities as we implement our fab-light strategy. We look forward to continuing to build on this momentum."

As part of the agreement between TSH(UK) and Atmel, approximately 260 Atmel employees directly associated with fab operations and other support functions are now part of TSH(UK).