T.J. Rodgers, Founder and CEO of Cypress Semiconductor, is Named 2009 Spirit of Ireland Award Recipient

The San José-Dublin Sister City Program will present its 2009 Spirit of Ireland Award to Cypress CEO T.J. Rodgers at the Spirit of Ireland (SOI) Award Luncheon on March 8 at the Fourth Street Summit Center in downtown San José.

For the past twenty-two years, the San José-Dublin Sister City Program has presented the SOI award to those individuals, companies and organizations whose accomplishments have exemplified the strong relationship between Silicon Valley and Ireland.

The Sister City Program chose T.J. Rodgers for its 23^rd Annual SOI Award because of his contributions to the Irish economy. Rodgers was instrumental in founding Cypress’s Irish Design Center in Blackrock, Cork, in an effort to establish closer ties with one of the most significant pools of semiconductor design talent outside Silicon Valley. Rodgers and Cypress have also made a commitment to hiring from Irish universities: Over 80% of the Cork staff has graduated from Irish schools, including the University College Cork.

Over the years, Cypress’s Irish design team has contributed to some of the company’s most important products; many Irish designers have gone on to rewarding careers at Cypress. Cathal Phelan – a graduate of Trinity College at the University of Dublin – helped to launch the Cork center and currently serves as Cypress’s Chief Technical Officer.

"We chose T.J. Rodgers to be the recipient of this year’s Spirit of Ireland Award in recognition of his contributions to the people and economies of Ireland and the United States,” said Shane Patrick Connolly, President of the San José-Dublin Sister City Program. "We are pleased that T.J. will join our list of notable awardees including Nobel Peace Prize recipient, the Honorable John Hume; former Taoiseach of Ireland, Bertie Ahern and former Speaker of the House of Representatives, Tom Foley, who accepted for President Clinton.”

The SOI award luncheon on March 8 is the culmination of Irish Week 2009, which welcomes the Lord Mayor of Dublin, Ireland, Councilor Eibhlin Byrne, and her eleven-member delegation of city officials and business representatives, March 4-9.

2009 Irish Week activities, open to the public with a ticket purchase, include the Welcome Breakfast and City of San José Flag Raising Ceremony (Flag Raising Ceremony is free) on March 6 and the Spirit of Ireland Award Luncheon honoring T.J. Rodgers on March 8.

Other private planned events for the Irish delegation include meetings with San José City Manager Debra Figone and the City of San José Environmental Services Department. Tours include San José City Hall, Elmwood Correctional Facility for Women and Sobrato House Youth Center. Leisure activities include a San José Sharks / Minnesota Wild hockey game, a visit to the Monterey Peninsula and a "Celebration of the Irish” dinner hosted by San José City Councilmember, Nancy Pyle, at her home.

About T.J. Rodgers

T.J. Rodgers is president and chief executive officer of Cypress Semiconductor Corporation. Rodgers was the founding CEO of Cypress in 1982 and helped to build it into an international supplier of high-performance, mixed-signal, programmable solutions with nearly 4,000 employees.

Rodgers was instrumental in founding the company’s Irish Design Center in Blackrock, Cork. The center, which opened in 1998, is a part of Cypress’ New Product Division. Cypress recently named the Cork facility a center of excellence for its design work on phase locked loops, analog circuitry that is critical to a wide variety of end products.

Rodgers has received multiple awards for his business success and community service. In 1996, Financial World magazine named him CEO of the Year. In 2001, Upside magazine cited Rodgers as one of the "100 People Who Changed Our World." In 2005, Rodgers was inducted into the Silicon Valley Engineering Council Hall of Fame.

Rodgers has testified before Congress five times. He has been cited for his support of capitalism and freedom and for his significant contributions to local organizations such as the Second Harvest Food Bank and the Valley Medical Center, a full-service hospital based in San José.

About San José-Dublin Sister City Program

The mission of the all-volunteer San José-Dublin Sister City Program is to develop civic, cultural, economic, artistic and sporting ties between San José and Dublin as well as between the Silicon Valley and Ireland.

Each year, for the past 23 years, the City of San Jose has welcomed the Lord Mayor of Dublin, Ireland and the Dublin delegation during Irish Week, which celebrates the important civic bond that San José and Dublin share through a formal sister city relationship. The San José-Dublin Sister City Committee sponsors Irish Week.

Irish Week activities, coordinated by the San José-Dublin Sister City Program and Joseph Hedges, the International Program Manager for the City of San José Office of Economic Development, include public and private events, tours and meetings.

Net proceeds from Irish Week support the San José-Dublin Sister City educational and outreach efforts and the scholarship fund for students participating in the San José State University / University College Dublin exchange program. For more information visit http://www.sanjosedublin.org.

Tickets for the 2009 Irish Breakfast and the Spirit of Ireland Luncheon can be purchased online at www.sanjosedublin.org and checks, made payable to San José-Dublin Sister City Program, or credit information can be sent to: San José-Dublin Sister City Program / PO Box 720893, San José CA 95172

About Cypress

Cypress delivers high-performance, mixed-signal, programmable solutions that provide customers with rapid time-to-market and exceptional system value. Cypress offerings include the PSoC® programmable system-on-chip, USB controllers, general-purpose programmable clocks and memories. Cypress also offers wired and wireless connectivity technologies ranging from its CyFi™ Low-Power RF solution, to West Bridge® and EZ-USB® FX2LP controllers that enhance connectivity and performance in multimedia handsets. Cypress serves numerous markets including consumer, computation, data communications, automotive, and industrial. Cypress trades on the NYSE under the ticker symbol CY. Visit Cypress online at www.cypress.com.

Cypress, the Cypress logo, PSoC, West Bridge and EZ-USB are registered trademarks and CyFi is a trademark of Cypress Semiconductor Corp. All other trademarks are property of their owners.