SAN JOSE, Calif., Dec. 1 /PRNewswire/ -- SDL, Inc. (Nasdaq: SDLI) today
announced that it has broken ground on a new manufacturing facility in
Victoria, British Columbia, for its subsidiary, SDL Optics.  The new site will
more than double the manufacturing space of its current facility.  SDL Optics
manufactures the company's highly successful 980 nm pump modules and fiber
Bragg gratings in Victoria.  The new facility will initially be 41,000 square
feet with the ability to be expanded further.  SDL expects to be shipping
products from it in the fourth quarter of 1999.
    "Our team in Victoria is very excited about the new facility and the
tremendous opportunities resulting from the market acceptance of our
products," said Donald R. Scifres, chairman and chief executive officer of
SDL, Inc.  "The new facility will allow us to continue our explosive growth in
the dense wavelength division multiplexing (DWDM) marketplace, and represents
our strong commitment to being a top tier supplier of optoelectronics
solutions for the communications market."
    "The increasing need for bandwidth due to data traffic over the current
telecom network is driving the need for expansion," said Greg Dougherty,
president of SDL Optics and chief operating officer of SDL, Inc.  "The demand
is playing to our strengths.  Our high power, grating stabilized pumps are
enabling the growth of DWDM from 16 channels per fiber to between 40 and 80
channels."
    Statements in this press release which are not historical including
statements regarding SDL's or management's intentions, hopes, beliefs,
expectations, representations, projections, plans or predictions of the future
are forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities
Litigation Reform Act of 1995.  Such statements include statements regarding
the opportunities resulting from market acceptance of our products,
anticipated growth in the DWDM market, the company's commitment to becoming a
top tier supplier of optoelectronic products in this market, and the expected
operational date for the new facility.  It is important to note that the
Company's actual results could differ materially from those in any such
forward-looking statements.  Factors that could cause actual results to differ
materially include risks related to delays in construction or qualification of
the new facility, failure to manufacture sufficiently and rapidly to meet
growing demand, the company's inability to maintain and improve yields,
uncertainties in the growth of the DWDM market, delays or cancellation of
customer orders, lack of customer acceptance of new products, new and
continuing customer qualification of products, and the risk factors listed
from time to time in the Company's SEC reports including, but not limited to,
the annual report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 1997, and
quarterly reports on Forms 10-Q.
    SDL designs, manufactures and markets semiconductor optoelectronic
integrated circuits, semiconductor lasers, fiber optic related products and
optoelectronic based systems.  The Company's products are used in a diversity
of markets such as telecommunications, fiber optics, cable television, dense
wavelength division multiplexing, satellite communications, printing, medical
and materials processing markets.

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