Faraday Introduces Free High Performance Library Offerings for UMC's 0.13-Micron Logic Process

Long-term cooperative program will also develop a full portfolio of comprehensive IP optimized for UMC's 0.13-micron process and beyond

HSINCHU, TAIWAN & MILPITAS, CA, August 16, 2001 - Faraday Technology Corporation (Taiwan OTC: 5404), a leader in Silicon Intellectual Properties (SIP), and UMC (NYSE: UMC), a world leading semiconductor foundry, today announced the immediate availability of free-of-charge high performance cell libraries for UMC?s 0.13-micron logic process. The two companies have formed a cooperative program to also develop a comprehensive set of IP elements optimized for UMC?s 0.13-micron process to give customers a wide range of resources ready for integration into complex system-on-chip (SOC) designs. Each of Faraday?s new 0.13-micron IP and cell libraries will fully comply with UMC's design rules that include models that support the industry's leading design tools, such as Synopsys, Cadence, and Avant!.

The availability of these resources will help in reducing design times, giving customers a competitive edge by minimizing time to tape-out. In addition to the IP and free library program, the long term cooperative effort will focus on the development of a full range of IP for beyond the 0.13-micron generation.

"The cooperation with Faraday is designed to help customers reduce their time-to-market, allowing them to quickly adopt and design into the latest technology," said Fu Tai Liou, Senior Vice President and Chief Technical Officer of UMC. "We have a long working history with Faraday, and the introduction of high performance libraries and IP for our 0.13-micron process clearly shows the productive relationship our two companies share. Now, SOC designers have the necessary design resources to maximize the performance potential of their 0.13-micron IC designs."

"We have built our reputation based on the high-quality of our cell library products and the resulting silicon successes. To a great extent, this success depends on an ability to work in close cooperation with the manufacturing partner. UMC has been an ideal partner. They provide us with dedicated cooperation that ensures the best possible results are achieved for each customer?s design," said H.P. Lin, President of Faraday. "We look forward to extending this relationship and to our continuing goal of providing an ever improving range of IPs and services to our growing base of clients."

Availability

Faraday's high performance 0.13-micron standard cell libraries, including core cell and generic I/Os, are scheduled for immediate delivery. Other 0.13-micron IPs, such as porting Memory, Analog IPs (e.g.: LVDS, 10/100 Ethernet PHY, USB 2.0 PHY, ADC, DAC, PLL, PCI-X I/O, LVTTL, HSTL, PECL, SSTL, etc.), and Digital IPs (e.g.: DSP, 10/100 Ethernet MAC, USB 2.0 Device Core, etc.) will soon be available. For more information, please visit UMC or Faraday's website, or directly contact Faraday?s Roger Cheng (USA) at +1-408-935-0888.

About UMC

UMC, a world leading semiconductor foundry, operates multiple wafer fabs in Taiwan?s Hsinchu Science Park. UMC?s Japanese subsidiary, Nippon Foundry Inc., has one fab in Japan, and UMC?s joint venture with Hitachi, Trecenti Technologies, began pilot production in its 300mm fab in Japan in 2000. UMC?s 300mm facility in Taiwan's Tainan Science Park began pilot production in June 2001, and the company has broken ground on UMC, a third 300mm fab based in Singapore. UMC is a leader in foundry technology, with facilities that reached an annual output of more than 2.4 million eight-inch equivalent wafers in 2000 and shipped more silicon wafers in 0.18 micron and smaller technologies than any other foundry that year. UMC?s joint development program with IBM and Infineon Technologies introduced its 0.13-micron technology platform in 2000. UMC serves customers around the world through sales and marketing offices located in the United States, Japan, and the Netherlands. UMC can be found on the web at http://www.umc.com.

About Faraday Technology Corporation

Faraday Technology Corporation has provided remarkable ASIC design services and valuable IPs (Intellectual Properties) for customers ranging from small start-ups to large international IC design houses and system houses since it was founded in 1993. Today, Faraday Technology Corporation is the largest organization of its type in the Asia-Pacific area, with more than 250 employees and annual revenue of 2.4 billion NT dollars in 2000. The company is headquartered in Hsinchu, Taiwan and has sales offices around the world, including Silicon Valley (U.S.A), Japan and Europe. More information about Faraday, its services and/or products, please visit our Web site at http://www.faraday.com.tw.

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