RF Micro Devices Announces Alliance with QUALCOMM CDMA Technologies to Provide Power Amplifiers to the CDMA Market

NEW ORLEANS. RF Micro Devices, Inc. (Nasdaq: RFMD), a leading provider of proprietary radio frequency integrated circuits (RFICs) for wireless communications applications and, QUALCOMM Incorporated (Nasdaq: QCOM), pioneer and world leader of Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) digital wireless technology, today announced an alliance to provide advanced power amplifiers (PAs) for the CDMA market.

Initially, RFMD and QUALCOMM have agreed to cooperate on the development of CDMA PAs for inclusion in present and future QUALCOMM CDMA chipsets. Future development may include other RFICs for CDMA.

"Combining QUALCOMM s CDMA system, design and software expertise with RFMD s design and process technology will allow QUALCOMM to offer the best performing and most cost-effective power amplifiers for the CDMA market, said Johan Lodenius, senior vice president of marketing and product management for QUALCOMM CDMA Technologies. As a leading supplier of CDMA chipsets and system software, QUALCOMM will continue to offer manufacturers the most integrated and advanced products available.

"RFMD is the world s largest supplier of gallium arsenide (GaAs) heterojunction bipolar transistor (HBT) RFICs, said Jerry Neal, executive vice president of sales, marketing and strategic development of RF Micro Devices."CDMA has been one of our most successful markets, and RF Micro Devices has already delivered more than 50 million RFICs for use in CDMA systems. With our own wafer fabrication plant now in full production, and with a second wafer fab under construction, RFMD has the capacity to fulfill all of QUALCOMM s foreseeable GaAs HBT requirements.

The joint development, utilizing the expertise of both companies, is expected to yield products that will provide higher levels of integration and, with advanced packaging technology, will enable handset manufacturers to produce phones with smaller form factors and increased talk-time capabilities. Both QUALCOMM and RFMD share extensive experience using multiple RF technologies, including bipolar complementary metal oxide semiconductors (BiCMOS) and silicon germanium (SiGe).

Under the agreement, QUALCOMM will market and sell the jointly developed CDMA Power Amplifiers using RFMD s wafer foundry for manufacturing. QUALCOMM will provide the necessary software and system development tools to enable faster development cycles for manufacturers using the QUALCOMM power amplifiers.

QUALCOMM CDMA Technologies (QCT) is the leading developer and supplier of CDMA chipsets, hardware and software solutions, and tools with more than 80 million Mobile Station Modem (MSM(TM)) chips shipped worldwide. QCT supplies chipsets to the world s leading CDMA handset and infrastructure manufacturers, including: Acer Peripherals, Inc., ALPS ELECTRIC CO., LTD.; CASIO COMPUTER CO., LTD.; DENSO CORPORATION; FUJITSU LIMITED; Hitachi, Ltd.; Hyundai Electronics Industries Co., Ltd.; KYOCERA CORPORATION; LG Information and Communications, Ltd.; Samsung Electronics Ltd.; SANYO Electric Co., Ltd.; and Toshiba Corporation, among others.

QUALCOMM Incorporated ( http://www.qualcomm.com ) is a leader in developing and delivering innovative digital wireless communications products and services based on the Company s CDMA digital technology. The Company s business areas include integrated CDMA chipsets and system software; technology licensing; Eudora® email software for Windows® and Macintosh® computing platforms; and satellite-based systems including OmniTRACS® and portions of the Globalstar(TM) system. QUALCOMM owns patents which are essential to all of the CDMA wireless telecommunications standards which have been adopted or proposed for adoption by international and national standards setting bodies. QUALCOMM has licensed its essential CDMA patent portfolio to more than 75 telecommunications equipment manufacturers worldwide. Headquartered in San Diego, Calif., QUALCOMM is included in the S&P 500 Index and is a 1999 FORTUNE 500® company traded on the Nasdaq under the ticker symbol QCOM.

RF Micro Devices, Inc., an ISO 9001-certified manufacturer, designs, develops, manufactures and markets proprietary RFICs for wireless communications applications such as cellular and PCS phones, cordless phones, wireless LANs, wireless local loop handsets, industrial radios, wireless security systems and remote meter readers. The Company offers a broad array of products -- including amplifiers, mixers, modulators/demodulators, and single-chip receivers, transmitters and transceivers -- that represents a substantial majority of the RFICs required in wireless subscriber equipment. The Company s strategy is to focus on wireless markets by offering a broad range of standard and custom designed RFICs in order to position itself as a "one-stop solution for its customers RFIC needs. RF Micro Devices, Inc. is traded on the Nasdaq National Market under the symbol RFMD.

This press release contains forward-looking statements that relate to the Company s plans, objectives, estimates and goals. Words such as "expects, "anticipates, "intends, "plans, " believes, and "estimates, and variations of such words and similar expressions identify such forward-looking statements. The Company s business is subject to numerous risks and uncertainties, including probable variability in the Company s quarterly operating results, manufacturing capacity constraints, risks associated with the Company s operation of its current wafer fabrication facility and the construction of an additional facility, dependence on a limited number of customers, variability in production yields, the Company s ability to manage rapid growth, dependence on third parties and risks associated with doing business in Asia and other areas of the world. These and other risks and uncertainties, which are described in more detail in the Company s Annual Report on Form 10-K filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, could cause actual results and developments to be materially different from those expressed or implied by any of these forward-looking statements.

QUALCOMM, OmniTRACS and Eudora are registered trademarks, and MSM is a trademark of QUALCOMM Incorporated. Globalstar is a trademark of Loral QUALCOMM Satellite Services, Incorporated. Windows is a registered trademark of Microsoft Corp. Macintosh is a registered trademark of Apple Computer Inc. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

RF Micro Devices® and RFMD(TM) are trademarks of RF Micro Devices, Inc. All other tradenames, trademarks and registered trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

Contact: RF Micro Devices Jerry D. Neal, 336/664-1233 Dean Priddy, 336/664-1233 Konrad M. Alvarino, 336/664-1233