Magma and UMC Complete 65-nm Library Characterization Effort

Foundry leverages SiliconSmart to bring faster throughput, accuracy and
greater automation to library suite

SANTA CLARA, Calif., and HSINCHU, Taiwan, Jan. 4, 2007 - Magma Design Automation Inc. (Nasdaq: LAVA), a provider of semiconductor design software, today announced that UMC (NYSE: UMC; TSE: 2303), a world-leading semiconductor foundry, has characterized its internally developed libraries for 65-nanometer (nm) and smaller process geometries using Magma's SiliconSmart^TM The libraries support composite current source (CCS), effective current source model (ECSM) format and are developed to give customers timing and noise enhancements in their nanometer designs.

"UMC's 65-nm production technology is seeing widespread acceptance among customers that span across a wide range of applications," said Ken Liou, director of the IP Development and Design Support division at UMC. "To ease customer design-in for this leading-edge technology, we are constantly developing valuable design support resources that will help customers speed their product time to market. Using Magma's SiliconSmart to characterize our 65-nm libraries has enabled us to deliver comprehensive libraries characterized by faster throughput, better accuracy and more automation. We look forward to continuing our work with Magma to expand our design support solutions that address issues such as advanced timing, power, noise and design for manufacturability models."

"UMC's large and varied customer base requires that they maintain accurate libraries and rapidly characterize them at a number of process and performance variations," said Suk Lee, general manager of Magma's Custom Design Business Unit. "SiliconSmart's superior throughput, high degree of automation, high performance and reliable support is designed to suit these needs."

About SiliconSmart
Accurate, fast and remarkably easy to use, SiliconSmart is a complete library characterization and publishing system that produces production-ready models with minimal setup effort. Setup is automated for most complex cells and IOs while an easy-to-use Tcl interface is available for customization. SiliconSmart offers a proven, industry-leading track record for accuracy and usability of characterized models over a comprehensive set of model formats and EDA design flows - and is also backed by dependable worldwide customer support.

About UMC
UMC (NYSE: UMC, TSE: 2303) is a leading global semiconductor foundry that manufactures advanced system-on-chip (SoC) designs for applications spanning every major sector of the IC industry. UMC's SoC Solution Foundry strategy is based on the strength of the company's advanced technologies, which include production proven 90nm, 65nm, mixed signal/RFCMOS, and a wide range of specialty technologies. Production is supported through 10 wafer manufacturing facilities that include two advanced 300mm fabs; Fab 12A in Taiwan and Singapore-based Fab 12i are both in volume production for a variety of customer products. The company employs approximately 12,000 people worldwide and has offices in Taiwan, Japan, Singapore, Europe, and the United States. UMC can be found on the web at http://www.umc.com.

About Magma
Magma's software for integrated circuit (IC) design is recognized as embodying the best in semiconductor technology. The world's top chip companies use Magma's EDA software to design and verify complex, high-performance ICs for communications, computing, consumer electronics and networking applications, while at the same time reducing design time and costs. Magma provides software for IC implementation, analysis, physical verification, characterization and programmable logic design, and the company's integrated RTL-to-GDSII design flow offers "The Fastest Path from RTL to Silicon"^TM. Magma is headquartered in Santa Clara, Calif. with offices around the world. Magma's stock trades on Nasdaq under the ticker symbol LAVA. Visit Magma Design Automation on the Web at www.magma-da.com.

Magma and SiliconSmart are registered trademarks and the "The Fastest Path from RTL to Silicon" are trademarks, of Magma Design Automation Inc. All other product and company names are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective companies.

Forward-Looking Statements:
Except for the historical information contained herein, the matters set forth in this press release, including statements that SiliconSmart enables characterization of libraries in a day, produces production-ready models with minimal setup effort, and generally about the performance of Magma software and statements that the UMC libraries will improve design results and will continue to work with Magma are forward-looking statements within the meaning of the "safe harbor" provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995.These forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially including, but not limited to the companies' determination to continue to cooperate, Magma's ability to keep pace with rapidly changing technology; and its products' abilities to produce desired results. Further discussion of these and other potential risk factors may be found in Magma's public filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (www.sec.gov). Magma undertakes no additional obligation to update these forward-looking statements.

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