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UMC and Virage Logic Collaborate
to Enable Optimal IP Development for UMC's 65nm Process Technology
Cooperation Will Help Enhance the Adoption
of UMC's Next-Generation 65nm Process Technology and Accelerate
the Availability of Silicon IP
FREMONT, Calif., and HSINCHU, Taiwan, July 21, 2005--UMC
(NYSE: UMC, TSE: 2303), a world-leading semiconductor foundry and
Virage Logic Corporation (Nasdaq: VIRL), a pioneer in Silicon Aware
IPTM and leading provider of semiconductor intellectual
property (IP) platforms, have announced an agreement where Virage
Logic will extend its IP and circuit design expertise to jointly
work with UMC to enable optimal IP development for UMC's 65nm process
technology. This early engagement partnership will help accelerate
adoption of UMC's next generation technology platform and provide
a predictable roadmap for enhancements of key IP structures such
as memory bit cells.
"UMC's strong commitment to technical leadership is underscored
with this agreement," said Alex Shubat, Chief Technical Officer
of Virage Logic. "Because critical IP design intent has been
factored in from the start, the resulting process will provide for
optimal area, performance, power and yield much sooner than with
traditional process development flows."
The agreement calls for Virage Logic to collaborate and consult
with UMC's technology and design support teams to analyze process
parameters critical for design of key IP elements such as memory,
logic and I/Os in order to optimize area, speed, performance and
manufacturing yield of System-on-Chips (SoCs).
"At 65nm, design experts and process technology teams need
to synchronize much earlier than previous generations to address
the new challenges brought by the increasing complexities of deep
sub-micron technology nodes," said Patrick T. Lin, Chief SoC
Architect, System and Architecture Support Group, UMC. "Virage
Logic's expertise and understanding of the relationship between
advanced process parameters and semiconductor IP requirements will
be a valuable asset to this effort, and we look forward to their
contributions to help accelerate the acceptance of our 65nm process."
About UMC
UMC (NYSE: UMC, TSE: 2303) is a leading global semiconductor foundry
that manufactures advanced process ICs for applications spanning
every major sector of the semiconductor industry. UMC delivers cutting-edge
foundry technologies that enable sophisticated system-on-chip (SOC)
designs, including 90nm copper, 0.13um copper, and mixed signal/RFCMOS.
UMC is also a leader in 300mm manufacturing; Fab 12A in Taiwan and
Singapore-based Fab 12i are both in volume production for a variety
of customer products. UMC employs approximately 10,500 people worldwide
and has offices in Taiwan, Japan, Singapore, Europe, and the United
States. UMC can be found on the web at http://www.umc.com.
About Virage Logic Corporation
Founded in 1996, Virage Logic Corporation (Nasdaq:VIRL) rapidly
established itself as a technology and market leader in providing
advanced embedded memory intellectual property (IP) for the design
of complex integrated circuits. Today the company is a global leader
in semiconductor IP platforms comprising embedded memories, logic,
and I/Os and is pioneering the development of a new class of IP
called Silicon Aware IP. Silicon Aware IP tightly integrates Physical
IP (memory, logic and I/Os) with the embedded test, diagnostic,
and repair capabilities of Infrastructure IP to help ensure manufacturability
and optimized yield at the advanced process nodes. Virage Logic's
highly differentiated product portfolio provides higher performance,
lower power, higher density and optimal yield to foundries, integrated
device manufacturers (IDMs) and fabless customers who develop products
for the consumer, communications and networking, hand-held and portable,
and computer and graphics markets. The company uses its FirstPass-SiliconTM
Characterization Lab for certain products to help ensure high quality,
reliable IP across a wide range of foundries and process technologies.
Headquartered in Fremont, California, Virage Logic has R&D,
sales and support offices worldwide. For more information, visit
www.viragelogic.com.
Safe Harbor Statement under the Private
Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995:
Statements made in this news release, other than statements of historical
fact, are forward-looking statements, including, for example, statements
relating to trends, business outlook, products, customer relationships
and our financial results for the fiscal quarter ended June 30,
2005. Forward-looking statements are subject to a number of known
and unknown risks and uncertainties, which might cause actual results
to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such statements.
These risks and uncertainties include Virage Logic's ability to
forecast its business, including expected revenues, royalties and
net loss for the third fiscal quarter ended June 30, 2005 and possible
discrepancies between the preliminary results and the final results
to be announced; the company's ability to ship against existing
orders or customer deadlines; Virage Logic's ability to maintain
and develop new relationships with third-party foundries and integrated
device manufacturers; adoption of Virage Logic's technologies by
semiconductor companies and increases or fluctuations in the demand
for their products; the company's ability to overcome the challenges
associated with establishing licensing relationships with semiconductor
companies; business and economic conditions generally and in the
semiconductor industry in particular; competition in the market
for semiconductor IP platforms; and other risks including those
described in the company's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the period
ended September 30, 2004, and in Virage Logic's other periodic reports
filed with the SEC, all of which are available from Virage Logic's
website (www.viragelogic.com)
or from the SEC's website (www.sec.gov),
and in news releases and other communications. Virage Logic disclaims
any intention or duty to update any forward-looking statements made
in this news release.
Note From UMC Concerning Forward-Looking
Statements
Some of the statements in the foregoing announcement are forward
looking within the meaning of the U.S. Federal Securities laws,
including statements about future outsourcing, wafer capacity, technologies,
business relationships and market conditions. Investors are cautioned
that actual events and results could differ materially from these
statements as a result of a variety of factors, including conditions
in the overall semiconductor market and economy; acceptance and
demand for products from UMC; and technological and development
risks.
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protected herein.
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