SuperH SH4-202 CPU Core Achieves Silver IP Status at UMC

Hard-macro in 0.13µm CMOS achieves 266MHz

Hsinchu, Taiwan; San Jose, USA - Bristol, UK and Tokyo, Japan - 7 July, 2003 UMC (NYSE: UMC) a world leading semiconductor foundry, and SuperH, Inc., the leading supplier of multimedia RISC CPU cores, today announced that SuperH's SH4-202 32-bit CPU core has achieved "Silver IP" status at UMC for the foundry's 0.13µm process. A Silver ranking under UMC's Gold IP program signifies that the core has been verified in silicon at UMC and is ready for production.

The SH-4 family is targeted at a wide range of multimedia applications including set top box, car information systems and portable digital consumer products and is supported through SuperH's extensive 3rd party program with over 65 companies offering various development tools, software and design services.

Commented Atsushi Hasegawa, VP Engineering at SuperH. "We are pleased with the close level of support that UMC has provided, and are happy to have completed the successful qualification of our IP in UMC's 0.13µm process, which we look forward to moving into production over the coming months."

The "Silver IP" status of the SH4-202 will become "Gold IP" once a customer design that uses the core achieves volume production at UMC. The Gold IP program makes available to customers a wide range of silicon verified IP and library components that are optimized for easy integration into customer designs.

The SH4-202 CPU core integrates a 32-bit RISC CPU core with an integrated Vector floating point unit and delivers an impressive 1.5Dhrystone 2.1 MIPS/MHz and 7MFLOPS/MHz. In 0.13µm CMOS the CPU core is less than 1mm² and the whole hard macro integrating CPU, FPU, 32K D cache, 16K I cache, serial port, timers, real time clock, interrupt controller, bus interface and debug port is only 8.2mm².

"UMC remains committed to working closely with our IP partners to develop IP resources that are optimized for value, usability, and user friendliness," said Jackson Hu, president of the New Business Development Group and head of Design Support at UMC. "We value our partnership with SuperH, and welcome the availability of their SH-4 core for UMC's 0.13µm process."

About UMC
UMC (NYSE: UMC, TSE: 2303) is a leading global semiconductor foundry that manufactures advanced process ICs for applications spanning every major sector of the semiconductor industry. UMC delivers cutting-edge foundry technologies that enable sophisticated system-on-chip (SOC) designs, including 90nm copper, 0.13µm copper, embedded DRAM, and mixed signal/RFCMOS. UMC is also a leader in 300mm manufacturing; Fab 12A in Taiwan is currently in volume production for a variety of customer products, while the Singapore-based UMCi joint venture with Infineon Technologies will begin pilot production later this year. UMC employs over 8,500 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.