Belch Company Alcatel Extends U.S. Automotive Presence

    BRUSSELS, Belgium & DALLAS--Jan. 22, 2002--Alcatel (Paris: CGEP) expanded its sales, design and product application engineering office in Detroit.
    From the new site, at the heart of the automotive industry, Alcatel provides local car equipment manufacturers with extensive automotive IC expertise -- including chipsets for in-vehicle-networking (IVN) and sensor applications. ASSP solutions including local interconnect network (LIN), controller area networks (CAN) and motor controllers are also available.
    Tony Denayer, Alcatel's General Manager, Automotive and Peripheral Products, said: "Alcatel has been working with many of the world leaders in the automotive market, and we're ready to deliver this expertise to the U.S. market -- especially in IVN, which represents a major growth area. Alcatel will capitalize on the strengths that led to our success in the European automotive business. We have ambitious growth plans, in response to increased customer demand for innovative ASIC and ASSP applications, and aim to extend our current European growth rate of 30% per year to the U.S."
    Mark Rice, VP of Sales, North America, added: "We've enjoyed an extensive U.S.A. presence in telecommunications since in 1995 -- resulting in an expansion of our U.S.A. sales office network. Today, Alcatel is leveraging this established presence by expanding its successful automotive business into the U.S. We're now in a strong position to deliver our proven, focused, automotive design and application expertise to American automotive suppliers."
    The Detroit office is one of six Alcatel U.S. offices, and complements the Dallas head office. It will be managed by Tom Sweda, Key Account Sales Manager for Automotive, supported by a dedicated sales force and field applications engineering.

    Detroit Office Location:          Dallas Office Location:
    Alcatel Microelectronics          Alcatel Microelectronics
    2000 Town Center                  3001 E. G. Bush Hwy.
    Suite 1900                        Suite 201
    Southfield, MI 48075              Richardson, TX 75080

    Tom Sweda: 248/351-2642           Tony Valentino: 972/477-7604
    Fax: 248/351-2699                 Fax: 972/477-7640

    About Alcatel's Automotive Chip Solutions

    Alcatel is a leading-edge supplier of automotive electronics solutions for car equipment makers worldwide, offering a one-stop-shop service from spec definition to manufacturing. Chips are fabricated in Alcatel's own facilities using the mixed-signal HV (high voltage) semiconductor technology that best supports the application. Automotive ASIC and ASSP solutions include chips for powertrain, safety, body, dashboard, IVN, sensor and actuator applications. Alcatel customers benefit from more than 15 years' experience in ASIC development, especially in high voltage and mixed-signal. Alcatel was No. 1 worldwide in ASIC sales to Europe in 2000, with $340 million (Dataquest, 2000). For more information on Alcatel's automotive electronics solutions, visit http://www.alcatel.com/microelectronics.

    About Alcatel

    Alcatel builds next-generation networks, delivering integrated end-to-end voice and data networking solutions to established and new carriers, as well as enterprises and consumers worldwide. With sales of EURO 27 billion in 2000 and 110,000 employees, Alcatel operates in more than 130 countries.