Wilsonville, Ore., Feb. 19, 2001 - Mentor Graphics CorporationR and UMC today announced they have partnered to deliver a complete turnkey design flow, including the availability of IC design kits for UMC's radio frequency (RF) and analog/mixed-signal (AMS) process technologies. This innovative flow gives customers a total design solution: complete support from specification all the way through tape-out.

The agreement covers UMC's 0.25-, 0.18- and 0.13-micron RF CMOS technologies, with design kits for 0.25-micron available immediately. These IC design kits, jointly developed for the Mentor Graphics IC StationR schematic-driven custom design environment, deliver optimized and characterized device components ready for RF and mixed-signal SoC designs. This enables designers to immediately begin creating, simulating and verifying designs on UMC's cutting-edge technologies.

The design kits include UMC-supported Eldo simulation models, CalibreR DRC and LVS technology files, schematic symbols, process definition files, and all other configuration files needed to construct a complete design environment, giving customers a complete, full-featured solution for Mentor Graphics RF and AMS IC design.

"Mentor understands the time-to-market pressure companies face to stay competitive and realizes this leaves little time to set up IC design environments," said Jue-Hsien Chern, vice president and general manager for the Deep Submicron (DSM) division of Mentor Graphics. "IC design kits are a fundamental part of the Mentor AMS design strategy to provide a complete and fully integrated design tool flow."

Fu Tai Liou, CTO of UMC said, "UMC is continuing its efforts to meet the requirements of RF and mixed-signal SoC designers by providing cutting-edge IC design kits that are proven on our deep submicron process technologies. We are pleased to be working with Mentor Graphics on this latest development, providing design kits with all components necessary for constructing complete RF and mixed-signal SoC design environments. This will further facilitate RF and analog/mixed-signal designers' ability to devise total, high-performance SOC solutions while still bringing products to market quickly."

Mentor Graphics Corporation (Nasdaq: MENT) is a world leader in electronic hardware and software design solutions, providing products and consulting services for the world's most successful electronics and semiconductor companies. Established in 1981, the company reported revenues over the last 12 months of nearly $600 million and employs approximately 2,750 people worldwide. Corporate headquarters are located at 8005 S.W. Boeckman Road, Wilsonville, Oregon 97070-7777; Silicon Valley headquarters are located at 1001 Ridder Park Drive, San Jose, California 95131-2314. World Wide Web site: www.mentor.com.

Mentor Graphics, Calibre and IC Station are registered trademarks and Eldo is a trademark of Mentor Graphics Corporation. All other product or company names are the registered trademarks or trademarks of their respective owners.