National Semiconductor Corporation (NYSE:NSM) has established a charitable foundation to provide grants to benefit K-12 education, university programs and critical needs in communities where the company has a major presence.

National, which has a long history in community and education involvement, created the foundation as a formal entity for grant making and community support. Specifically, the foundation will fund programs to improve science, math and technology curriculum in K-12 classrooms, support university programs aligned with the company's business objectives, and address selected critical community needs worldwide.

"Expanding our outreach is the right thing to do as we strive to give back to our communities. This new foundation is an innovative way for us to do this," said Brian Halla, National's chairman, president and chief executive officer.

National has endowed its charitable foundation with an initial contribution of $20 million, which came from the sale of an early investment in a start-up company that was recently acquired by another public corporation.

The National Semiconductor Corporate Foundation is established as a donor-advised fund within the Community Foundation of Silicon Valley (CFSV). National has also appointed a management team and an executive board to oversee ongoing foundation operations.

Today, the Company also announced its first Foundation gift, a grant to Resource Area For Teachers (RAFT), a San Jose, California-based nonprofit agency. RAFT accepts donations of office supplies, computers, and thousands of other items, and sells them to teachers at a very low cost for use in creative classroom math, science and art programs. National is giving RAFT a $100,000 cash grant plus $50,000 of in-kind training for teachers in how to use the Internet in classroom curriculum.

About National Semiconductor
National Semiconductor provides system-on-a-chip solutions for the information age. Combining real-world analog and state-of the-art digital technology, the company's chips lead many sectors of the personal computer, communications, and consumer markets. With headquarters in Santa Clara, California, National reported sales of $2.1 billion for its last fiscal year and has about 10,500 employees worldwide. Specific information on the National Semiconductor Foundation is available at www.national.com/community/contributions.html. Additional company and product information is available on the World Wide Web at www.national.com.

National Semiconductor Corporation

National Semiconductor Corporation

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