Altera Corp (768251) SEC Filing 10-K Annual report for the fiscal year ending Wednesday, December 31, 2008

Exhibit 99.1

ALTERA ANNOUNCES 2008 RESULTS

San Jose, Calif., January 27, 2009—Altera Corporation (NASDAQ: ALTR) today announced 2008 sales of $1.37 billion, up 8 percent compared with $1.26 billion in 2007. New product sales increased 51 percent. Net income rose 24 percent to $359.7 million, $1.18 per diluted share, versus net income of $290.0 million, $0.82 per diluted share, in 2007.

Fourth quarter sales were $314.5 million, down 3 percent from the fourth quarter of 2007 and down 12 percent from the third quarter of 2008. Fourth quarter net income was $83.0 million, $0.28 per diluted share, up from net income of $65.5 million, $0.20 per diluted share, in the fourth quarter of 2007.

Altera repurchased 26.6 million shares of its common stock during 2008 at a cost of $473.2 million, with 9.0 million shares repurchased during the fourth quarter at a cost of $154.2 million. Altera ended the quarter with $1.2 billion in cash and short-term investments.

Altera’s board of directors has declared a quarterly cash dividend of $0.05 per share payable on March 2, 2009 to shareholders of record on February 10, 2009.

“While we experienced the effects of a global economic-driven slowdown in the fourth quarter, we increased our market share in the programmable logic industry for the sixth year in a row. Net income growth substantially outpaced sales growth as a result of our sustained focus on improving efficiencies across the company. We will apply these simplification and cost reduction skills in this current challenging business environment to help protect shareholder value,” said John Daane, president, chief executive officer, and chairman of the board.” As previously committed, we shipped our first 40-nm Stratix IV FPGAs in the fourth quarter, placing us in a leadership position that will strengthen our competitive position in 2009 and beyond.”

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