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``Oak is excited to be positioned at the beginning of a new growth curve,'' said Oak Technology president and CEO Young Sohn. ``The notebook market is beginning to adopt optical recording products. Until now there has been a low penetration of optical recording solutions in notebook computers because existing solutions could not meet the requirements for combination CD-RW and DVD devices. Now, our customers can offer both DVD and CD-RW functionality in one drive in a cost effective way.''

Market analyst firm IDC forecasts a compound annual growth rate of 139 percent for combo optical storage solutions over the next four years. In addition, IDC forecasts shipments of notebooks with optical recording capability growing from 0.3 million in 2000 to 28 million in 2004, a 206 percent compound annual growth rate.

``Early combo drives appearing in the market have been too expensive for widespread use, or their write speeds lagged a generation or more behind standalone CD-RW drives. Our newest optical storage controller addresses these concerns by providing excellent performance, including a 16X CD-RW write speed in a highly integrated, cost effective solution,'' added Sohn.

Oak's OTI-9897 combo controller is capable of 16X CD-R and 16X CD-RW write speeds as well as 40X CD-ROM and 8X DVD read speeds. It supports all DVD media types by reading DVD-ROM, DVD-R, DVD-RAM, DVD-RW, and DVD+RW discs. The single-chip controller integrates an Ultra DMA IDE/Atapi controller, CD block decoder/encoder, CD-DSP, DVD-DSP, CD/DVD servo, CD wobble servo, CD write strategy, and CSS content protection authentication.

The combo controller uses advanced digital signal processing techniques to minimize the amount of required analog circuitry. This approach provides increased flexibility and greater immunity to system noise. An advanced architecture affords a high level of accuracy and improved seek access time, particularly for CD-RW media. Power management is provided to reduce power consumption and increase power efficiency.

Availability

Oak's OTI-9897 combo CD-RW/DVD controller is sampling now and will be available in production quantities in second quarter 2001.

Oak's Optical Storage Controller Technology

Oak, founded in 1987, has established a leadership position in the optical storage segment. The Company is recognized as one of the leading suppliers of optical storage controllers, having sold more than 130 million optical storage controllers to date. Oak's latest generation of advanced CD-RW optical storage controllers have been selected by most of the OEM suppliers of CD-RW drives. The Company's recent product development efforts in the area have focused on emerging segments, such as CD-RW and Combo drives, which are fast becoming the mainstream optical storage device for the PC market.

About Oak Technology

Oak Technology, Inc., a leading provider of solutions for the storage, manipulation and distribution of digital content, is committed to driving the emerging world of connected Information Appliances. The Company's fully integrated products and technologies target two key markets: optical storage (CD-RW and DVD for PC and consumer) and digital imaging (advanced copiers, printers, faxes, scanners and MFPs). Founded in 1987, Oak is headquartered in Sunnyvale, Calif., and has sales offices, design centers and research facilities around the world. The Company trades on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange under the symbol OAKT. Additional information about Oak and its digital solutions can be found at www.oaktech.com.

``Safe Harbor'' Statement under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995: In addition to the historical information contained herein, statements in this press release may contain forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Federal securities laws and are subject to the safe harbors created thereby. The following are among the factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from the forward-looking statements: The foregoing statements may consist of forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties. These statements may differ materially from actual future events or results. Factors that could cause actual outcome to differ materially from those set forth include, without limitation, the rate of adoption of new technology; the rate of growth of the CD-RW market; changes in product mix or distribution channels; the demand for semiconductors and end-user products that incorporate semiconductors; technological difficulties and resource constraints encountered in developing and/or introducing new products; and market acceptance of new products. Forward-looking statements contained in this press release regarding expected financial results, industry trends, sales and future product development, and business strategies and activities should be considered in light of these factors, and those factors discussed from time to time the Company's public reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, such as those discussed under ``Risk Factors'' in the Company's Annual Report on Form 10K for fiscal year ending June 30, 2000, and in quarterly reports on Form 10Q.

NOTE: Oak Technology is a registered trademark and the Oak logo is a trademark of Oak Technology, Inc. All other product names or company names are mentioned for identification purposes only, and may be trademarks of their respective owners.

SOURCE: Oak Technology, Inc.