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SAN JOSE, Calif. and SUNNYVALE, Calif., May 2, 2001 - Xilinx, Inc. (NASDAQ: XLNX), the leader in programmable logic solutions, with UMC (NYSE: UMC) and Trecenti Technologies, a joint venture fabrication facility between UMC and Hitachi, announced today that Xilinx built its first Virtex?products on 300 mm silicon wafers. By taking advantage of the larger wafer sizes, Xilinx will be able to produce more cost effective programmable logic devices. Trecenti is the pureplay foundry industry's first 300-mm enabled fab to deliver wafers.
Xilinx will also be using the 300 mm format to deliver its next generation high density Platform FPGAs. Incorporating high speed I/O technology, DSP multipliers, and embedded processors, the 300-mm version of the Platform FPGAs integrate more than 200 million transistors per die and 37 billion per wafer. The Xilinx Platform FPGA initiative introduced a new era of programmable logic, extending the level of system integration into a broad application base using the Xilinx Virtex-II FPGA series.
"UMC has been making significant progress with its 300 mm enabled fabs, with the Trecenti facility being the first to produce wafers for our customers. In fact, we started developing wafers in pilot production in December 2000. We are also overseeing the development of two other 300 mm fabs, with one in Taiwan and the other in Singapore," said Jim Kupec, president of UMC USA. "We are enthusiastic that Xilinx is the first FPGA vendor to utilize 300 mm silicon and is seeing its FPGAs widely adopted in the industry."
"Our announcement today demonstrates an aggressive move to build our leading products on 300 mm wafers. In the next 12 months, the products produced at Trecenti could become a second source for our Virtex and Spartan? series FPGAs, representing up to one-third of our product revenue," said Dennis Segers, senior vice president and general manager of Xilinx Advanced Products Group. "The combination of the leading-edge wafer technology, our high-density FPGAs, and the 300 mm wafer size is the right combination to deliver the most cost-effective quality products to our customers."
"Trecenti has devised a completely new methodology for single-wafer processing that employs full automation with high-speed transfers to realize the shortest possible cycle time. With these new processes in place, Trecenti is demonstrating the competitive advantages of its state-of-the-art technology," said Toshio Nohara, president of Trecenti Technologies Incorporated.
Trecenti is the world's first venture to fabricate wafers in a 300-mm wafer production facility. Trecenti was established on March 15, 2000 as a dedicated 300-mm wafer foundry.
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