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SST Honored by Sony Corporation as a Supplier of Environmentally Friendly Products

Posted on: Monday, 12 January 2004, 06:00 CST

SUNNYVALE, Calif., Jan. 12 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- SST (Silicon Storage Technology, Inc. , a leader in flash memory technology, today announced that it has been awarded Green Partner certification by Sony Corporation . Through this certification program, Sony recognizes and commends its suppliers who cooperate in the production of environmentally sensitive products. As an approved Green Partner of Sony, SST is a certified supplier in the design, manufacture and delivery of flash memory products that are environmentally friendly in accordance with industry and regulatory standards. Achieving Green Partner status is crucial for suppliers to Sony because, as of April 2003, Sony declared that it would procure parts and materials for its products solely from suppliers that have been qualified as Green Partners.

"Sony has been a longtime customer of SST's SuperFlash-based memory products and we are pleased to see that they too are taking steps to support the design, manufacture, packaging and service of environmentally safe electronics," said Bing Yeh, president and CEO, SST. "SST has been in production with lead-free (non-Pb) packaged products for nearly two years, and through our ongoing corporate initiative, we are continuously looking for ways to make our products safer for the environment without sacrificing the quality, performance and reliability our customers expect from SuperFlash technology."

In order to qualify as a Green Partner of Sony, companies must establish an upstream management system, whereby each stage of the manufacturing process -- from raw materials to product shipment -- is carefully examined and managed to ensure that no environmentally dangerous substances, such as cadmium, mercury and lead, are input, used or output. Once this management system has been implemented, Sony auditors visit the supplier to make sure that all the required criteria are being met. Furthermore, to ensure that suppliers are following the upstream management system in strict accordance with Sony's guidelines, each supplier must renew its Green Partner approval every two years.

In March 2002, SST announced it would offer lead-free (non-Pb) packaging for all its SuperFlash-based products. While there is currently no industry standard definition of lead-free packaging, SST takes a stringent approach in its environmental initiative by defining lead-free content as virtually zero percent lead inside or outside of the package or in the solder material on the terminals. Additionally, SST supports the elimination of toxic substances in all of its products by complying with the Montreal Protocol and the U.S. Clean Air Act, whereby, chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) and hydrochlorofluorocarbons (HCFCs) are not used in the manufacturing processes of SST or of its subcontractors.

About SuperFlash Technology

SST's SuperFlash technology is a NOR type, split-gate cell architecture which uses a reliable thick-oxide process with fewer manufacturing steps resulting in a low-cost, nonvolatile memory solution with excellent data retention and higher reliability. The split-gate NOR SuperFlash architecture facilitates a simple and flexible design suitable for high performance, high reliability, small or medium sector size, in- or off-system programming and a variety of densities, all in a single CMOS-compatible technology.

About Silicon Storage Technology, Inc.

Headquartered in Sunnyvale, California, SST designs, manufactures and markets a diversified range of nonvolatile memory solutions, based on proprietary, patented SuperFlash technology, for high volume applications in the digital consumer, networking, wireless communications and Internet computing markets. SST's product families include various densities of high functionality flash memory components, flash mass storage products and flash microcontrollers. SST also offers its SuperFlash technology for embedded applications through its world-class manufacturing partners and technology licensees including 1st Silicon (Malaysia) Sdn. Bhd., Grace Semiconductor Manufacturing Corporation (Grace), IBM, Motorola, National Semiconductor, NEC Corporation, Oki Electric Industry Co. Ltd., Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd., SANYO Electric Co., Ltd., Seiko Epson Corp., Shanghai Hua Hong NEC Electronics Co., Ltd., Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. Ltd. (TSMC), Toshiba Corporation, Vanguard International Semiconductor Corporation, and Winbond Electronics Corp. TSMC offers embedded SuperFlash under its trademark Emb-FLASH. Further information on SST can be found on the company's Web site at http://www.sst.com/ .

Forward-Looking Statements

Except for the historical information contained herein, this news release contains forward-looking statements regarding flash memory market conditions, the company's future financial performance, the performance of new products and the company's ability to bring new products to market that involve risks and uncertainties. These risks may include timely development, acceptance and pricing of new products, the terms and conditions associated with licensees' royalty payments, the impact of competitive products and pricing, and general economic conditions as they affect the company's customers, as well as other risks detailed from time to time in the company's SEC reports, including the Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2002 and on Form 10-Q for the quarters ended March 31, June 30, and September 30, 2003.

For more information about SST and the company's comprehensive list of product offerings, please call 1-888-SST-CHIP. Information can also be requested via email to literature@sst.com or through SST's Web site at http://www.sst.com/ . SST's head office is located at 1171 Sonora Court, Sunnyvale, Calif.; telephone: 408-735-9110; fax: 408-735-9036.

NOTE: The SST logo and SuperFlash are registered trademarks of Silicon Storage Technology, Inc. Emb-FLASH is a trademark of TSMC. All other trademarks or registered trademarks are the property of their respective holders.

For More Information Contact:

Sasha Afanasieff

Silicon Storage Technology, Inc.

408-522-7310

aafanasieff@sst.com

Stephanie Mrus

Porter Novelli

408-369-1500 x26

stephanie.mrus@porternovelli.com

SST

CONTACT: Sasha Afanasieff of Silicon Storage Technology, Inc.,+1-408-522-7310, or aafanasieff@sst.com; or Stephanie Mrus of Porter Novelli,+1-408-369-1500, ext. 26, or stephanie.mrus@porternovelli.com, for SiliconStorage Technology, Inc.

Web site: http://www.sst.com/

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