News Release

Washington, DC - Idaho Senator Mike Crapo and Micron Technology President and CEO Steve Appleton will hold a news conference tomorrow, Saturday, March 1st, on the steps of the Idaho Statehouse. Crapo and Appleton will discuss developments related to legislation introduced this week by Crapo that could help end unfair foreign trading practices that are damaging Idaho’s largest private employer. Those trading practices involve government bailouts that are keeping competitors of Micron afloat in South Korea.

Crapo will discuss the wide array of meetings he has held with U.S. commerce and trade officials concerning Micron and Korean competitor Hynix. He will also update the efforts underway to speed government employment and trade benefits to Micron employees. Micron was forced to cut 10% of its worldwide workforce, totaling 1100 jobs in Idaho alone, due to unfair foreign trade practices, which the U.S. government has options to curtail.

Mr. Appleton will thank Senator Crapo for his longstanding strong support of Micron. He plans to talk about how on-going subsidies in Korea are hurting Micron, and express his belief that Micron’s concerns will be validated in the results of the countervailing duty case that Micron filed last November. He will let Senator Crapo know that Micron’s employees appreciate the Senator’s on-going fight on Micron’s behalf.

At the end of March, the U.S. Department of Commerce is set to make a preliminary determination on possible duties applied to Hynix chips imported into the U.S. The move comes at a time when the European Union is also considering sanctions against the Korean chipmaker. The International Trade Commission has determined preliminarily that Micron has been injured by Korean subsidization of DRAM product.

News conference information:

Saturday, March 1, 2003 11:00 to 11:30 a.m. Mountain Time Statehouse steps Boise, Idaho

Following the news conference, Senator Crapo will travel to the Boise Centre on the Grove to speak to the American Cancer Society's "Sportsmen Against Prostate Cancer" group in the Waters Room. . # # #