SILICON METRICS' TIMING SOLUTION TO BE UTILIZED BY UMC AND ITS PARTNERS

SiliconSmart CR™, Silicon Metrics' highly accurate VDSM timing and power characterization and modeling solution, targets designs being manufactured on UMC's VDSM fabs

AUSTIN, Texas – June 5, 2000 – Today, Silicon Metrics Corporation announced an agreement with UMC, a world-leading semiconductor foundry, that provides UMC, its ASICplus partners, and its GoldIP™ partners access to its Very Deep Sub-Micron (VDSM) library timing and power characterization and modeling toolset, SiliconSmart CR.  The technology enables developers targeting designs to be manufactured on UMC's deep submicron fabs the ability to reach timing closure faster and with greater accuracy through consistent library timing views used throughout the entire design process.

After extensive evaluation, Silicon Metrics was selected by UMC as a preferred provider of library timing and power characterization and modeling tools.   Silicon Metrics' SiliconSmart CR extends UMC's end customers' design capability by providing accurate, high quality, consistent cell library timing and power data.  This minimizes the risk of silicon re-spins due to timing flaws.  UMC is also referring its customers requiring extensions to certified third-party libraries and/or requiring new models for design specific operating points to SiliconSmart CR.

"This agreement with Silicon Metrics exemplifies our continued dedication to serving the needs of our customers by partnering with innovative technology partners," said Edward Wan, Vice President of Worldwide Field Engineering at UMC.  "By making SiliconSmart CR tools available throughout our network of IP providers and library vendors, we are bringing both accuracy and consistency to our customer's timing closure methodologies.  Given the massive competitive pressures that our customers face, time-to-market remains critical.   Silicon Metrics' timing and power characterization and modeling tools enable our customers to get better results and avoid silicon respins due to timing errors, thus reducing their overall time-to-market."

"We are very happy to support UMC and its service provider network with the best commercially available timing and power characterization and modeling solution.   This agreement deepens our long-time partnership with UMC," said Callan Carpenter, CEO of Silicon Metrics.  "As SiliconSmart CR proliferates through the UMC provider chain--its ASIC plus partners and its GoldIP™ program partners--UMC customers will become equipped to take advantage of the sophisticated VDSM timing sign-off flows that we're introducing to the market over the next several months.  The advanced modeling techniques and solutions we're developing in conjunction with UMC will provide UMC customers the fastest and most accurate timing closure flow available anywhere."

NOTE 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.

About Silicon Metrics Corporation

Silicon Metrics Corporation is a privately held company based in Austin, Texas.  The company has offices in Austin and San Jose, California and is represented by Marubeni Solutions in Japan and SPEC GmbH in Europe.  Company investors include Austin Ventures, Needham Capital Partners, and Synopsys, Inc.  The Silicon Metrics team brings decades of combined electrical engineering and electronic design automation (EDA) experience to bear on the challenge of eliminating silicon respins caused by timing flaws.  For more information, call (888) 828-3736, or visit Silicon Metrics online at http://www.siliconmetrics.com.
 

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