News Article April 25, 2005

Catalyst Semiconductor Introduces 10-Bit Serial Latched LED Driver

SUNNYVALE, Calif., April 25, 2005 -- Catalyst Semiconductor, Inc. (NASDAQ:CATS) a leading supplier of high performance analog/mixed-signal solutions and nonvolatile memory, today expanded its family of solid state illumination products with the introduction of a new white LED driver targeted at LED indicator and interior lighting applications. The CAT310 drives up to 10 color, or white, LEDs and safely handles "load dump" transients to 40V, making it ideal for automotive systems.

A serial to parallel shift register accepts up to a 10-bit data stream, stores the state condition of each output channel, and upon command, latches the input data to enable, or disable, the outputs. This provides LED blanking and pattern control for signal indication in applications such as diagnostic tools or control panels. A serial output allows the user to cascade multiple CAT310 drivers to illuminate systems of LEDs in applications such as sign boards or interior lighting systems.

Each channel is comprised of a low on-resistance open drain FET which can sink up to 50mA, with the current through each LED being set by a series resistor. Manufactured on high-voltage CMOS technology, the CAT310 operates with input voltages as high as 17V. Over voltage detection, under voltage lockout and over current detection each serve to protect the device and output LEDs during fault conditions.

“The CAT310 offers a robust solution for driving multi-color LEDs across the full automotive temperature range in harsh system environments. The integrated suite of features reduces external component count and minimizes the traditional reliance on upstream protection devices, simplifying the overall system design,” said Jamie White, Senior Marketing Manager.

Product Features
• Output drivers withstand load-dump transients up to 40V
• Operates over automotive temperature range: -40° to +125°C
• Drives 10 LEDs in parallel at 50mA per channel
• Output channels can drive a combination of white or color LEDs
• Serial output allows cascading of multiple CAT310’s to drive greater than 10 LEDs
• Operating voltage up to 17V
• Simple LED pattern programming through the 10 MHz serial interface
• Blank pin provides global on/off control of all LEDs
• Under Voltage Lockout
• Over Voltage Protection

CAT310 Applications
• Automotive lighting
• Interior home lighting
• Instrumentation panels
• Diagnostic equipment
• Traffic signal lighting
• LED sign boards

Price and Green Package Availability
The CAT310 is available in a 20-pin SOIC package; price in 1,000 piece quantities is $0.95. The CAT310 is available in environment friendly “green” packages that are halogen and lead free with full RoHS compliance. Samples and production quantities are available now.

About Catalyst Semiconductor, Inc.
Founded in 1985, Catalyst Semiconductor, Inc. is headquartered in Sunnyvale, California. The Company is a leading supplier of high performance analog/mixed-signal solutions and nonvolatile memory products used in automotive, aircraft, telecommunications, computation, industrial and consumer markets. The Company designs and markets a broad range of analog/mixed-signal products such as White LED Drivers, DC-DC Converters, GPI/O Expanders, Digitally Programmable Potentiometers (DPP™), Microcontroller Supervisory circuits and other analog/mixed-signal products. Programmable products include Serial and Parallel EEPROMs with I2C, SPI and Microwire interfaces, as well as NVRAM and low density Flash Memory. Typical applications include LCD displays, digital cameras, cell phones, automotive instrumentation, modems, wireless LANs, network cards, DIMM modules, digital satellite box receivers, set-top boxes and Internet routers. Catalyst's Quality Management System is ISO9001:2000 certified. For additional information about Catalyst Semiconductor, visit our website at: www.catalyst-semiconductor.com.

Forward Looking Statements
Except for those statements that report the Company's historical results, the statements being made are forward-looking statements. Actual results could differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements. Additional information concerning factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements is contained under the heading "Certain Factors That May Affect the Company's Future Results of Operations" listed from time-to-time in Catalyst's SEC reports including, but not limited to, the report on the Form 10-K for the year ended April 30, 2004 and subsequent filings of Forms 10-Q.

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Editor Notes:

1. 1. Trademark notices: DPP is a trademark of Catalyst Semiconductor, Inc. I2C is a registered trademark of Philips Corporation. SPI is a trademark of Motorola, Inc. Microwire is a trademark of National Semiconductor Corporation.
2. The “2” in I2C is superscript.
3. Electronic images are available at: www.catalyst-semiconductor.com/editor.