ChipX to Bring ARC's Configurable Cores to the Structured ASIC Market

ELSTREE, England, September 12, 2005 -- In an agreement that brings the power of ARC’s patented configurable CPU technology to an emerging high-growth market, ARC International (LSE: ARK) today announced that ChipX has taken a license for the ARC™ 605 core for use in its Structured ASIC (Application Specific Integrated Circuit) products. ChipX will use the ARC 605 core to create new, customer-specific structured ASICs with an on-chip processor core.

ChipX, a pioneer in the rapidly growing structured ASIC market, offers high speed and low power silicon solutions without the manufacturing times or risks normally associated with traditional ASICs. ChipX has completed more than 1,500 structured ASIC designs, and has products shipping to the communications, computer peripheral, consumer, industrial, military and aerospace markets.

The configurable ARC 605 processor core is the world’s smallest, lowest power 32-bit core. The ultra-small size of the core will give ChipX the ability to add an on-chip processor to many new structured ASICs with minimal die size impact. This ARC-Based™ solution will provide their customers with increased capability on a single chip, reducing time-to-market and eliminating the need for multi-chip alternatives.

“An increasing number of our customers require on-chip processors in their structured ASICs,” said Elie Massabki, vice president of marketing for ChipX. “By offering the ARC 605 core with our existing and next-generation solutions, we will be able to provide customers with a low-power way to build cost effective SoCs and SideChips – in conjunction with the benefits of structured ASICs.”

“As the smallest and lowest power 32-bit core available for license, the ARC 605 is ideally suited to meet the needs of the structured ASIC market,” said Derek Meyer, vice president of sales and marketing for ARC International. “Our ChipX relationship will bring structured ASIC customers a new level of price/performance/power and meet the needs of many next-generation applications.”

The Configurable ARC 605 Core
The configurable 605 core is an ideal solution for a wide range of embedded control and computing functions within SoCs. In a 0.13µ process, it offers a maximum clock frequency of 400 MHz, power consumption of 0.06 mW/MHz and a die size of only 0.31mm2. The core is designed for hard real-time processing, where high speed and deterministic response are required. Custom instruction extensions may be incorporated to achieve application performance levels unattainable with fixed-architecture cores.

About ChipX
ChipX, Inc. is a pioneer and leading manufacturer of late-stage programmable application-specific integrated circuits, or Structured ASICs. The company's innovative, patented technology consolidates wafer production tooling, reduces time-to-market and minimizes the total cost to profit. ChipX Structured ASIC technology is widely used in consumer equipment, computing peripherals, communication systems, industrial control, medical equipment, instrumentation and military/aerospace systems.

Headquartered in Santa Clara, CA, ChipX is a privately held corporation, founded in the U.S. in 1989. A subsidiary, ChipX (Israel) Ltd., performs Research & Development. Investors include Elron Electronic Industries, Ltd. (NASDAQ: ELRN), VantagePoint Venture Partners, Wasserstein Venture Capital, Newlight Associates, Parker Price Venture Capital, UMC, Needham Capital Partners and Insite Capital.

About ARC International plc
ARC International is the world leader in low-power, high-performance 32-bit configurable CPU/DSP processor cores, subsystems, real-time operating systems and development tools for embedded system design. ARC’s patented configurable CPU technology assists customers in the development of next generation digital media, consumer and communications devices, resulting in lower cost, higher performance SoC products.

ARC International maintains a worldwide presence with corporate offices in San Jose, California, USA and Elstree, UK. The company has research and development offices located in England and the United States. For more information please visit the ARC website at: www.ARC.com. ARC International is listed on the London Stock Exchange as ARC International plc (LSE: ARK).

ARC, the ARC logo and ARC-Based are trademarks or registered trademarks of ARC International. All other brands or product names contained herein are the property of their respective owners. This press release may contain certain "forward-looking statements" that involve risks and uncertainties. For factors that could cause actual results to differ, visit the company’s website as well as the listing particulars filed with the United Kingdom Listing Authority and the Registrar of Companies in England and Wales.