Dr. Edward C. Ross, President Emeritus of TSMC, Joins Open-Silicon Board of Directors

Dr. Ross will help the Open-Silicon team lead the charge in the ASIC Revolution

Sunnyvale, Calif. - March 21, 2005 - Open-Silicon, Inc., a fabless ASIC company that provides a predictable, reliable and cost-effective alternative to traditional chip design and supply chain models, today announced that Dr. Edward C. Ross, President Emeritus, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Ltd. (TSMC ) (NYSE:TSM) North America, has been appointed to the Open-Silicon Board of Directors. Dr. Ross brings a long history of experience in semiconductor, foundry and EDA technology.

"In his role on our Board, Dr. Ross has committed to taking an active role in bringing affordable, predictable and reliable ASICs to the industry through the Open-Silicon model," said Dr. Naveed Sherwani, President and CEO, Open-Silicon. "As President Emeritus of the world's largest dedicated semiconductor foundry, Dr. Ross's tremendous experience in ASIC production and operations will benefit Open-Silicon's customers and partners."

"In much the same way that dedicated foundries such as TSMC, removed a burden for ASIC customers in the 1980's, Open-Silicon is providing the benefits of dedicated, aggregated design and operations teams to the next generation" said Dr. Ross. "By combining access to a more open and affordable supply-chain with an unprecedented disciplined design methodology, I believe that Open-Silicon is leading the revolution that will bring affordability, predictability and reliability back to the ASIC market. Open-Silicon's aggregator model provides a tremendous opportunity for more companies to use an ASIC approach for their mainstream designs."

Dr. Ross joins Open-Silicon Board members Naveed Sherwani, Pierre Lamond, Sequoia Capital, Promod Haque, Norwest Venture Partners, and Thomas L. Rosh, Interwest Partners. He also currently serves as a member of the Board of Directors of three public companies, California Micro Devices (CAMD), Volterra Semiconductor Corporation (VLTR) and RAE Systems (RAE).

Dr. Ross received his PhD from Princeton in 1969. Prior to joining TSMC, he was with Synopsys as Sr. Vice President, Professional Services Group and prior to Synopsys, he was with Cirrus Logic, Inc. as President, Technology and Manufacturing Group.

About Open-Silicon, Inc.

Open-Silicon, Inc. is a fabless ASIC company delivering the most cost-effective, predictable and reliable custom ASIC solution to electronics product customers worldwide. Open-Silicon's OpenMODELT is the semiconductor industry's first end-to-end custom ASIC solution based on a revolutionary business model that provides a seamless, low-cost, low risk alternative to traditional models for complex ASIC design and development. For more information, visit Open-Silicon's website at www.open-silicon.com or call 408-523-1200.

Contact Open-Silicon Fill out this form for contacting a Open-Silicon representative. Your Name: Your E-mail address: Your Company address: Your Phone Number: Write your message: