Agere Systems Recognizes 2004 Strategic Suppliers for Commitment to Fast, Flexible, Secure Supply Chain Eastern Co. Named Outstanding Supplier; Chartered Semiconductor and Synopsys Win Best-In-Class Supplier Awards; Oracle Named Most Improved Supplier ALLENTOWN, Pa., Dec. 1 /PRNewswire/ -- Agere Systems (NYSE:AGR.ANYSE:AGR.B) today announced the four winners of its 2004 Strategic Supplier Awards. Eastern Co., Ltd. was named Outstanding Supplier and Best-in-Class Supplier in the direct/indirect materials category. Chartered Semiconductor Manufacturing and Synopsys Inc. (NASDAQ:SNPS) were named Best-in-Class Suppliers in their respective service categories and Oracle Corporation was named Most Improved Supplier. (Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20040618/AGERELOGO ) Agere began its Strategic Supplier Initiative in 2003 to recognize the companies most important to ensuring Agere's long-term success. This week, the company welcomed executive representatives of the company's 14 strategic suppliers to its Lehigh Valley Central Campus to thank them for their commitment in 2004 and strategize for continued high performance in 2005. "Agere has aligned its focus, resources and sourcing emphasis behind our 14 strategic suppliers. These companies matter long term to Agere as they drive our performance. The selection of this year's best-in-class winners demonstrates the full stream view Agere has of its supply chain. Each one of these companies demonstrated sustained leadership in their commodity area and I congratulate them on this achievement," said Tom Linton, chief procurement officer for Agere. "Eastern Co. won our Outstanding Supplier award as a result of its excellence in providing Agere proactive cost reductions, offering competitive technology roadmaps and security of supply." Chartered was recognized for its commitment to cycle time reduction, e-business initiative cooperation and yield improvement. Synopsys led its competitors by providing great service for Agere's design teams, a broad portfolio of competitive solutions, and flexibility around mix and pricing. Oracle's improvement came through its cost and resource alignment with Agere's IT organization on Agere's upgrade to Oracle's 11i platform. Agere's 2004 Strategic Suppliers are Advanced Semiconductor Engineering, Agilent Technologies, Amkor Technology, Cadence Design Systems, Chartered Semiconductor Manufacturing, Dai Nippon Printing Co., Eastern Co. Ltd., Federal Express, Mitsui High-tec Inc., Oracle Corp., Shinko Electric Industries Co., Synopsys Inc., Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, and Teradyne Inc. Agere Systems is a global leader in semiconductors for storage, wireless data, and public and enterprise networks. The company's chips and software power a broad range of computing and communications applications, from cell phones, PCs, PDAs, hard disk drives and gaming devices to the world's most sophisticated wireless and wireline networks. Agere's customers include the top manufacturers of consumer electronics, communications and computing equipment. Agere's products connect people to information and entertainment at home, at work and on the road -- making personal broadband a reality. More information about Agere is available on its web site http://www.agere.com/. http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20040618/AGERELOGO http://photoarchive.ap.org/ DATASOURCE: Agere Systems CONTACT: Glen Haley, +1-610-712-1747, +1-610-217-0781 (mobile), , or JoAnna Schooler, +1-610-712-1746, +1-908-283-4060 (mobile), , both of Agere Systems Web site: http://www.agere.com/

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