EXHIBIT 99.1

Microsemi Thriving on Diversified Strategy

By KAREN ALEXANDER, Times Staff Writer

The folks at Microsemi Corp. can be excused for gloating a bit these days.
While flashier chip makers have been battered by a prolonged technology slump,
the 40-year-old company is thriving by churning out chips for products from
hearing aids to the latest hand-held color computers.

These guys are on intermission, figuring out what's going on," Microsemi Chief
Executive James Peterson said with a chuckle, referring to some of his
competitors.  "And I'm taking their seats."

That strategy of catering to a variety of markets is paying off handsomely for
the 1,827-employee Irvine business.  Profit and sales are surging.  Its stock,
after falling sharply in February, has suddenly become one of the hottest
performers in the industry.  Over the last year Microsemi's stock has more than
doubled in price while semiconductor stocks overall have lost nearly 30% of
their value.

On Monday, the shares climbed to a 52-week high of $60.40 before closing at
$60.21, up $3.61, in Nasdaq trading.  The stock received a boost last week when
it was added to Standard & Poor's SmallCap 600 Index.  The previous week,
Microsemi announced a 2-for-1 stock split.

While others are warning of depressed earnings and have been shedding employees,
Microsemi is expanding. The company recently moved from its longtime base in
Santa Ana to a new corporate headquarters and design center in a high-rent
district in Irvine.  It also plans to hire as many as 30 engineers in coming
months.

Microsemi's successful strategy was born out of the company's own financial
distress about a decade ago.  At the time, the company's fate was tied heavily
to the defense industry, which accounted for more than 75% of its revenue.  When
Southern California's defense and aerospace sector collapsed, Microsemi's
revenue crumbled.  Short on cash, the firm sold off unprofitable divisions and
other assets, laid off staff and announced temporary salary cuts in 1993.

But the company learned its lesson.  By last year, just 29% of Microsemi's
revenue came from military and aerospace customers, with mobile communications,
telecommunications and computer devices contributing significant shares.  Now,
no single customer makes up more than 4% of Microsemi's sales, a sharp contrast
to other chip makers that depend more heavily on a handful of key customers.
Irvine neighbor Broadcom Corp., for example, drew 35% of its revenue last
quarter from sales to Motorola Inc. and 3Com Corp.  Part of the company's recent
struggles can be traced to the woes of another major customer, Cisco Systems
Inc., which at one time accounted for 17% of Broadcom's sales.

Microsemi sells devices to such diverse customers as Lockheed-Martin Corp.,
Motorola Inc., Dell Computer Corp. and St. Jude Medical Inc.  Last year, net
income jumped more than fivefold to $8.2 million, or 76 cents a share, as
revenue rose nearly 34% to $247.6 million.  Analysts are predicting earnings of
$1.28 a share this year.


They've been able to balance out some of the slowdowns" that have plagued other
semiconductor companies, said Charles Boucher, a semiconductor analyst at the
investment bank Bear Stearns, who has a "buy" recommendation on the stock.

Despite its successful strategy, Microsemi's stock is not immune to the
fluctuations that have characterized the technology sector in recent years.  The
stock outdistanced close competitors Semtech Corp. and Micrel Inc. in January,
then lost half of its value in a month.  Microsemi's shares sank to $19.30 in
mid-March before surging again.

Microsemi continues to profit from its old-line military business.  And with the
Bush administration expected to increase defense spending, the company could see
its military and aerospace revenue climbing as much as 15% this year after
logging sales declines over the last three years, Peterson said.

But the company also is positioning itself for an assault on faster-growing
markets for consumer gadgets, snatching up companies with technology that can be
reapplied to hot new commercial markets and boosting its research and
development budget over the last two years.  Last year, the company poured $11.2
million into R&D, up from $4 million the previous year and $1.5 million in 1998.

They've got this core of older legacy business, but they're not investing in
that.  They're investing in newer markets that have quite attractive growth
prospects," analyst Boucher said.

Most significant, the company in 1999 purchased LinFinity in Garden Grove,
landing a new bundle of power-management devices that can light colorful display
monitors without draining critical battery power in cell phones, laptop
computers and personal digital assistants.

More than 30% of Microsemi's sales come from the power-management division, and
the future is bright.  Total demand for these tools could grow about 30% a year
for the foreseeable future, according to a report by Banc of America Securities
analyst Alex Gauna.

Microsemi's chips for regulating power are now being used in the latest models
of hand-held devices from Palm Inc., Hewlett-Packard Co. and Compaq Computer
Corp.  The technology also is being deployed in the fast-growing market for
computer and navigational displays for luxury automobiles.

Meanwhile, medical device manufacturers are installing Microsemi chips in such
items as hearing aids and pacemakers.  When a 2-month-old boy at Loma Linda
University Children's Hospital became the first patient in the U.S. to receive
the world's smallest pacemaker this month, the device from St. Jude Medical had
a Microsemi chip managing power.  Its batteries are said to last about seven
years before they will have to be replaced.

The LinFinity deal also landed Microsemi a long-sought successor to Philip Frey
Jr., who had headed the company for 29 years.  Peterson, the former president of
LinFinity, was named Microsemi's president and chief executive last year.  Frey
became chairman of the board.

Another addition last year--Microsemi's acquisition of Infinesse Corp.'s
business products group--marked its entry into wireless and optical networking
markets.  It's kind of hard to categorize us in some respects because we're all
over the map," company spokesman Cliff Silver said. "That's one of the reasons
we're doing so well."