XILINX AND UMC ANNOUNCE
REVOLUTIONARY CPLD PROCESS ROADMAP
Leading programmable
logic supplier teams with Fab partner UMC to develop
revolutionary process technology scalable to 100 nanometer
SAN JOSE, Calif., February 25, 2002 -Xilinx, Inc. (NASDAQ:XLNX) and
UMC today unveiled the industry's first CPLD process technology scalable
to 100 nanometer. Xilinx began shipping samples of its 0.18 micron,
1.8 volt CoolRunner-II RealDigital CPLDs, based on the new process
technology, late in 2001 and plans introduction of a 0.13 micron CPLD
process in the first half of 2003. The 0.13 micron devices will operate
at 1.5 to 1.2 volt.
"The manufacturing process that Xilinx and our foundry partner
UMC jointly developed for our CoolRunner-II RealDigital devices is
highly modular and scalable," said Evert Wolsheimer, vice president
and general manager of the CPLD Division at Xilinx. "We are well
on our way to scaling to 0.13 micron, and expect to have products
based on that technology early next year. Non-volatile technologies
used for CPLDs are traditionally two generations behind logic processes
used for FPGAs. Our new approach allows us to close most of that gap,
and allows a higher synergy between our CPLD and FPGA technology and
design engineers, while maintaining the non-volatile character of
the CPLD product. We expect to introduce 100 nanometer CPLDs no more
than six months after the introduction of 100 nanometer FPGAs."
"The development of this new CPLD manufacturing process is a
natural extension of the longstanding relationship between UMC and
Xilinx," Wolsheimer said. UMC, based in Taiwan, has been the
chief supplier of Xilinx Virtex and Spartan FPGA wafers for several
years and also manufactures the Xilinx XC9500 (5 volt), XC9500XL (3.3
volt) and XC9500XV (2.5 volt) CPLDs in addition to the first and second
generations of CoolRunner devices.
Fu Tai Liou, chief officer of sales and marketing for UMC, said, "UMC
and Xilinx have had a long history of cooperating in the delivery
of industry leading FPGA and CPLD products built using UMC's state-of-the-art
foundry technology. We are happy to continue this productive relationship
through the acceleration of the CPLD roadmap with this new, highly
scalable technology platform."
XilinxCoolRunner-II RealDigital CPLDs feature the Fast Zero Power(FZP)
design technology that provides both high performance and ultra low-power
consumption and no cost penalty. Using the FZP all-digital core, CoolRunner-II
devices offer a new alternative to traditional CPLDs that use analog
sense amplifiers and consume much more power.
About Xilinx
Xilinx is the leading supplier of complete programmable logic solutions,
including advanced integrated circuits, software design tools, predefined
system functions delivered as intellectual property cores, and unparalleled
field engineering support. Founded in 1984 and headquartered in San
Jose, Calif., Xilinx invented the field programmable gate array (FPGA)
and fulfills more than half of the world demand for these devices
today. Xilinx solutions enable customers to reduce significantly the
time required to develop products for the computer, peripheral, telecommunications,
networking, industrial control, instrumentation, aerospace, defense,
low power portable, and consumer markets. For more information, visit
the Xilinx web site at http://www.xilinx.com.
Contacts:
Tamara Snowden
Xilinx, Inc.
(408) 879-6146
tamara.snowden@xilinx.com
Alex Hinnawi
UMC
(886) -2-2700-6999 ext. 6958
Eileen Elam
KJ Communications for UMC
(650)-917-1488
kjcome@cs.com
