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XILINX
AND UMC EXTEND LONG-TIME MANUFACTURING
RELATIONSHIP TO 65NM & BELOW
65nm prototype wafers
currently being produced at UMC's 300mm Fab
SAN JOSE, Calif., December 5, 2005 and HSINCHU,
Taiwan, December 6, 2005 - Xilinx, Inc. (NASDAQ: XLNX), the world's
leading supplier of programmable logic solutions, and UMC (NYSE:UMC,
TSE:2303), a world leading semiconductor foundry, today announced
the extension of their long-time strategic relationship to include
technology development at 65nm and below. In preparation for manufacture
of next-generation Xilinx FPGAs, joint research and development
efforts have resulted in 65nm prototype wafers, including actual
programmable logic circuitry, currently being produced at UMC's
300mm facility in Tainan, Taiwan. In addition, the companies announced
that they are in the early stages of process definition for future
development of 45nm FPGAs.
For more than a decade, Xilinx has relied upon
UMC as its primary manufacturer for high-volume production of its
programmable chips, most recently at 90nm. UMC leads all foundries
in total 90nm wafers shipped and Xilinx supplies more than 70 percent
of the world's 90nm FPGAs, based upon cumulative revenues. A total
of four 90nm FPGA families and 28 devices are being manufactured
by UMC, including VirtexTM-4, SpartanTM-3E,
Spartan-3L and Spartan-3.
"Together, UMC and Xilinx have been pioneers
across multiple process generations - and we look forward to extending
that leadership to 65nm and beyond," said Wim Roelandts, chairman,
president and CEO of Xilinx. "By aggressively moving down the
process technology curve with UMC, Xilinx continues to deliver the
world's lowest cost and highest performance FPGAs to customers.
Since our introduction of the world's first 90nm FPGA in 2003, we've
had many technology and yield breakthroughs at UMCs Fab 12A. Early
results at 65nm, which will initially be targeted for our high performance
Virtex family, bode well for our continued success."
"UMC and Xilinx have a long-standing relationship
sharply focused on maximizing both companies' competitiveness through
technology leadership," added Jackson Hu, CEO of UMC. "Our
mutual success at 90nm is the latest chapter in a long history of
cooperation. Due to our strategic relationships with technology
leaders such as Xilinx, UMC currently leads the foundry industry
in 90nm wafer shipments. We believe this is a solid indication of
the production maturity and readiness of UMC's 90nm process. At
the same time, we are seeing good progress in our development of
65-nm and beyond technologies, with Xilinx playing a major role
in our development efforts. "
Early investment in 90nm technology development
by both Xilinx and UMC led to delivery of the world's first 90nm
FPGA product line in 2003. Xilinx continues to be one of the highest
volume purchasers of 300mm wafers globally. To remain at the leading
edge and to meet growing customer demand for its popular FPGAs,
the company remains committed to a multi-source manufacturing strategy.
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, 0.13um copper, and mixed signal/RFCMOS.
UMC is also a leader in 300mm manufacturing; Fab 12A in Taiwan and
Singapore-based Fab 12i are both in volume production for a variety
of customer products. UMC employs approximately 10,500 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.
About Xilinx
Xilinx is the worldwide leader in complete programmable logic solutions.
For more information, visit www.xilinx.com.
This release contains forward-looking statements
and projections. Actual events and results may differ materially
from those in the forward-looking statements and are subject to
risks and uncertainties including the ability to develop and implement
leading-edge manufacturing processes and techniques and the ability
of the industry to develop and supply new equipment necessary for
the production of leading-edge wafers.
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