San Jose, Calif. and Dublin, Ireland – December 13, 2000 - Parthus Technologies PLC (Nasdaq: PRTH; LSE: PRH), a leading developer of semiconductor intellectual property for the mobile Internet market, and UMC (NYSE: UMC), a world leading semiconductor foundry, today announced an agreement that enables Parthus' customers to license its Bluetooth radio on UMC's CMOS process to power next generation mobile Internet devices.

Parthus has developed its innovative Bluetooth radio transceiver on UMC's 0.18 micron CMOS process. This allows Parthus and UMC's customers to have more ready access to the tools required for the development of mobile Internet chips. Combined with Parthus' baseband IP integrated on a system chip, this also enables the industry's first range of second-generation single chip Bluetooth solutions.

The partnership allows a range of customers, including integrated circuit (IC) companies and OEM manufactures, to license Bluetooth technology "off the shelf" from Parthus. By having this proven technology readily available from Parthus on UMC's CMOS process, OEM manufacturers and IC companies can realize significantly reduced time to market cycles and cost-efficiencies.

"The essence of Bluetooth is wireless connectivity across a range of electronic devices in a low-cost, high-performance package," said Kevin Fielding, chief operating officer of Parthus. "By making our technology available on UMC's CMOS process, we can accelerate the timetable for the mass deployment of Bluetooth technology. CMOS is the workhorse of the microprocessor industry because it delivers a low power, low cost solution. Furthermore, as a UMC ASICplus™ member, customers can leverage the benefits of the program with this latest offering to develop a total Bluetooth solution."

"The Bluetooth market is seeing tremendous growth as consumers embrace the many benefits this technology has to offer,” said Jim Ballingall, vice president of worldwide marketing for UMC. We have been working with leading Bluetooth OEMs and IP creators such as Parthus to develop RF CMOS technologies that will make Bluetooth chips more cost-effective than the Bluetooth samples and prototypes that currently utilize BiCMOS technology. Parthus’ RF on CMOS solution makes an excellent addition to UMC’s portfolio of resources that enables our customers to develop Bluetooth designs at a lower cost and within shorter market windows."

The radio is a critical component of any wireless system, providing the antenna to the DSP link. It plays a key role in establishing the core wireless system parameters, such as bandwidth and operating range. The need for a minimum-cost, low-power consumption radio that meets the Bluetooth specification is critical to the adoption of Bluetooth in mass-market products, such as cell phones and PDAs.

CMOS is the most widely used process technology in the industry because of its ability to deliver an extremely cost effective solution, with minimum compromising of performance or power consumption. Parthus' Bluetooth radio on CMOS development is focused primarily on Bluetooth and GPS applications, as these lend themselves to low-cost, CMOS implementation.

In-depth device characterization and RF test circuit evaluation have allowed Parthus to leverage the ultimate in low-cost IC technology to deliver highly integrated radio solutions operating at 2.4GHz.

UMC's ASICplus program is its response to the increase in demand from its customers for ASIC services. The first program of its type in the industry, UMC has teamed up with leading fabless ASIC companies to provide full ASIC services to system houses and fabless ASIC companies to provide full ASIC services to system houses and fabless semiconductor companies. The program gives customers the same advantages previously enjoyed by only large COT companies. ASICplus offers a value-added, lower cost alternative for the development of today's leading-edge ICs, focusing on front-end design solutions and backend assembly and test services.

Parthus Technologies is one of the world's leading providers of complete platform level intellectual property (IP) solutions targeting the mobile Internet market. Incorporating radio, baseband and software design solutions, Parthus' unrivalled range of mobile Internet platforms are used by the world's largest microprocessor companies and electronics manufacturers in MP3, GPS, GPRS, GSM, 3G and Bluetooth applications. Parthus' broad range of platforms powers a diverse range of mobile Internet devices, such as cellular handsets, Smartphones, automobiles, personal audio players and PDAs. The company leverages seven years of IP development experience to deploy platforms that lead the industry in terms of ultra-high processing power and low power consumption, and deliver significant cost and time-to-market advantages to its customers. Parthus is headquartered in Dublin with offices in six countries and is listed on the London Stock Exchange (LSE:PRH) and NASDAQ (Nasdaq:PRTH). More information on Parthus is available at http://www.parthus.com.

ASICplus is a trademark of UMC. All other trademarks or registered trademarks are the property of their respective owners.