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EXHIBIT 99.3
CYPRESS COMPLETES ACQUISITION OF SILICON LIGHT MACHINES
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SAN JOSE, California...September 8, 2000 -- Cypress Semiconductor
Corporation (NYSE:CY) today announced that it has satisfied all closing
conditions for the acquisition of Silicon Light Machines, a privately held
supplier of microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) technology applicable to
fiber-optic networks and other applications.
In July, Cypress announced an agreement to acquire Silicon Light
Machines on a pooling-of-interests basis, providing 3.7 million shares of
Cypress stock in exchange for all outstanding stock and options of SLM. With the
approval of this agreement, SLM becomes a wholly owned subsidiary of Cypress.
Silicon Light Machines licenses its MEMS-based Grating Light Valve(TM)
(GLV(TM)) technology to Sony Corporation for state-of-the-art display
applications. Cypress aims to leverage SLM technology to complement its product
and intellectual property portfolio targeted at the optical networking business
and to accelerate its penetration of the market for pure optical and
optoelectronic networking components. The acquisition also aligns Cypress's
product development roadmap with those of its strategic networking customers.
"The interface between optics and electronics - converting data into
light within the system-represents the next great frontier of switching
technology," said T.J. Rodgers, Cypress president and CEO. "With the SLM
acquisition, Cypress has purchased an entity clearly focused on this emerging
communications market segment, allowing us to venture aggressively into the
world of optoelectronics without suffering the bottom-line damage usually
incurred by such a large-scale R&D effort due to the Sony licensing funding."
Cypress currently ships approximately three-quarters of its products to
wireless and wide area network (WAN) customers. The Silicon Light Machines
acquisition is the latest in a series of moves by Cypress to provide
comprehensive solutions for next-generation WAN applications, including
high-speed switches and routers, and storage and backplane solutions. Over the
last several years, Cypress has steadily built a strong position in the optical
communications and components markets, initially offering clock and data
recovery transceivers for local-area networks (LANs) and WANs and later
expanding to integrate framing capabilities with its CDR technology. Cypress
recently announced sampling of its highest integrated physical layer device for
the OC-48 optical market and will push aggressively to design end-to-end
solutions for ever-higher-performance.
Silicon Light Machines is located at 385 Moffett Park Dr., Suite 115,
Sunnyvale, CA 94089-1208. For additional information, please call 408-541-1990
or fax 408-541-1244.
ABOUT CYPRESS
Cypress Semiconductor provides high-performance integrated circuit
solutions for fast-growing companies in fast-growing markets, including data
communications, telecommunications, computation, consumer products, and
industrial-control. With a focus on emerging communications applications,
Cypress's product lines include networking-optimized and micropower static RAMs;
high-bandwidth multiport and FIFO memories; high-density programmable logic
devices; timing technology for PCs and other digital systems; and controllers
for Universal Serial Bus (USB). Cypress is No. 1 in the USB and clock chip
markets.
More than two-thirds of Cypress's sales come from fast-growing
communications markets and dynamic companies such as Alcatel, Cisco, Ericsson,
Lucent, Motorola, Nortel Networks, and 3Com. Cypress's ability to mix and match
its broad portfolio of intellectual property enables targeted, integrated
solutions for high-speed systems that feed bandwidth-hungry Internet
applications. Cypress aims to become the preferred silicon supplier for Internet
switching systems and for every Internet data stream to pass through at least
one Cypress IC.
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Cypress employs more than 4,100 people worldwide with international
headquarters in San Jose, California. Its shares are listed on the New York
Stock Exchange under the symbol CY. More information about Cypress is accessible
electronically on the company's worldwide web site at http://www.cypress.com or
by CD-ROM (call 1-800-858-1810). An electronic investor forum, and other
investor information, is located at http://www.cypress.com/investor/index.html.
SAFE HARBOR PROVISIONS
The above news release contains forward-looking statements regarding the
acquisition of Silicon Light Machines, and the impact of this acquisition on
Cypress's operations. Cypress's actual results may vary materially from the
results discussed in these forward-looking statements. Factors that may cause
such a difference include: those risks surrounding the timely development,
production, and continued market acceptance of the combined company's products;
Cypress's ability to successfully integrate the operations of the acquired
companies; the ability of the combined company to compete in the highly
competitive and rapidly changing marketplace; and other risks detailed from time
to time in Cypress's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission
Silicon Light Machines, Grating Light Valve and GLV are trademarks of
Silicon Light Machines.
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