SAN JOSE, CA – October 30, 2001 – Synaptics® Incorporated – the acknowledged leader in TouchPads and other human interface solutions – today announced an agreement with Bourns, Inc. in which Synaptics will assume responsibility for the sales and marketing of the Bourns® resistive pointing stick product line and sell those products under the Synaptics brand name.

“The two organizations are highly complementary, and this agreement allows both companies to focus on their core competencies”, explains Synaptics General Manager of PC Business, Don Kirby. “Synaptics strong customer relationships and competency as a technology leader in interface devices combined with Bourns manufacturing strengths make the two companies natural partners.”

“Bourns is excited to reach an agreement with Synaptics where we can continue to produce our high-quality products for a company with such strong relationships with the major notebook manufacturers”, explains Bourns’ President of the Sensor –Controls Division, Erik Meijer. This agreement will allow Synaptics, the leading provider in interface solutions, to expand its product portfolio, offering customers both single and dual pointing solutions, utilizing either capacitive or resistive technology. The notebook market has seen increasing demand for dual pointing solutions, where the notebook includes both a touch pad and a pointing stick interface. In response to this trend toward dual pointing solution, Synaptics is focusing on developing cost-effective, reliable and seamless dual pointing solutions that are easy to integrate.

“We believe that the dual pointing trend will continue and even increase,” explains Synaptics Director of Marketing, Mariel van Tatenhove. “Each of our customers has different requirements for a dual pointing solutions and we feel there is a need for us to offer both capacitive and resistive pointing stick products in combination with our capacitive TouchPad. As a leading provider of interface solutions, we want to provide our customers with a complete product portfolio to choose from, and with this agreement, Synaptics becomes a total solution provider and a one stop shop for all interface needs.”

About Synaptics Incorporated:
Known as The Human Interface Company™, Synaptics develops advanced interface solutions for products as diverse as notebook and desktop computers, mobile computing and communications devices, Internet appliances, automotive applications and security solutions. Synaptics products include: the industry standard notebook pointing device, TouchPad‘; ClearPad‘, a capacitive touch screen solution; TouchStyk™, a modular and capacitive pointing stick solution; Spiral®, an inductive, proximity sensing pen input system, and QuickStroke®, the award winning Chinese handwriting recognition software. Synaptics is a California-based, venture-backed, private company. The company can be contacted at (408) 434-0110, on the web at www.synaptics.com, or via email at sales@synaptics.com.

About Bourns, Inc.:
Bourns, Inc. is a leading manufacturer of Trimming Potentiometers, Precision Potentiometers, Modular Contacts, Switches, Resistor/Capacitor Networks, and Analog Input Devices, including Panel Controls, Encoders and Point Stick Navigators. Bourns also sells Chip Resistors, Chip Arrays and Inductive Components. Meeting the circuit protection requirements of next-generation products, Bourns’ broad circuit protection offering includes an extensive line of PPTC Resettable Fuses, Thyristor-Based Overvoltage Protectors, and Line-feed Surge Networks. Bourns Communication Protection Product line includes Gas Discharge Tubes (GDT), Telephone Station Protectors, 5-Pin Protectors, Industrial Signal, Irrigation and Petroleum Protectors, CATV Coax Protectors, Signal Data Protectors, and the Indoor and Outdoor POTsplitters and Network Interface Devices (NID) product lines. Headquartered in Riverside, CA, Bourns serves a broad range of markets, including telecommunications, computer, industrial, instrumentation, automotive, consumer, medical, audio and various other market segments. Bourns’ products are manufactured according to ISO-9000 and QS-9000 standards under Six Sigma quality programs. For more information, contact Bourns’ corporate headquarters at 1200 Columbia Avenue, Riverside, Calif. 92507. Phone (909) 781-5500; Fax (909) 781-5006; URL: www.bourns.com.