Editor Contact: Geraldine Hench, CFO Xicor, Inc.

408 546-3507

Investor Contact: Rich Schineller or Victor Shalom Morgen Walke 212 850-5600

Xicor Signs Wafer Fabrication Foundry Agreement with Sanyo

Milpitas, California, May 3, 1999 Xicor, Inc. (NASDAQ - NMS: XICO) today announced that it has entered into an agreement with Sanyo Electric Co., Ltd. of Japan to fabricate wafers for Xicor. The Sanyo foundry relationship will supplement Xicors foundry activities with Yamaha, Ltd. of Japan and the recently established foundry relationship with ZMD GmbH of Germany. Sanyo was chosen for their long-term experience in nonvolatile chip manufacturing and their volume production capabilities. In addition to Sanyo fabricating wafers for us using our existing technologies, we expect to jointly develop advanced technologies and products with Sanyo, stated Bruce Gray, president. We are pleased to work with Xicor to manufacture and jointly develop nonvolatile EEPROM and embedded products utilizing our expertise in digital and analog areas, commented Yukinori Kuwano, president of Sanyo Semiconductor Company. With this additional foundry capability, Xicor can now set a goal to eventually become a fabless semiconductor company with a competitive wafer cost, focused on providing innovative analog, mixed signal and specialty memory products to our customers, concluded Mr. Gray.

Safe Harbor Statement under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, including statements regarding the expectation of Sanyo fabricating Xicors wafers using Xicors

existing technologies, Yamaha and ZMD fabricating wafers for Xicor, jointly developing advanced technologies and products with Sanyo, and eventually becoming a fabless semiconductor company with a competitive wafer cost focused on providing innovative analog, mixed signal and specialty memory products. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially include the following: general economic conditions and conditions specific to the semiconductor industry, fluctuations in customer demand, competitive factors such as pricing pressures on existing products and the timing and market acceptance of new product introductions, Xicors ability to have available an appropriate amount of competitive cost foundry production capacity in a timely manner, manufacturing efficiencies, the ability to continue effective cost reductions, the timely development and introduction of new products and processes, currency fluctuations and the risk factors listed from time to time in Xicors SEC reports, including but not limited to the Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 1998 (Managements Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations, Factors Affecting Future Results section). Xicor assumes no obligation to update the information included in this press release.

Company Background Xicor, Inc. designs, develops, manufactures and sells nonvolatile in-the-system programmable products which retain information even when the system is turned off or power is inadvertently lost. Xicors product line includes digitally controlled potentiometers (XDCPs), system management ICs, and standard and secure memory ICs. Xicor product, corporate and financial information is readily accessible on the world wide web at http://www.xicor.com.