UMC GROUP JOINS SAGANTEC FOUNDRY PROGRAM

FREMONT, Calif., May 24, 1999 - United Microelectronics Corp. (UMC) Group of Hsin-Chu, Taiwan, today became a member of the Sagantec Foundry Program, joining inaugural members Amkor Technology Inc. of Santa Clara, Calif., Chartered Semiconductor Manufacturing of Singapore and IBM of Burlington, Vt.

As part of the Foundry Program, UMC Group will give Sagantec access to new process design rules. In turn, Sagantec will develop technology files, giving UMC Group customers the ability to quickly move their designs to new process technologies using Sagantec's Design Rule Enforcement and Migration (DREAM).

"Sagantec is pleased to add UMC Group to the growing list of semiconductor companies joining our Foundry Program," begins Mahendra Jain, vice president of worldwide marketing at Sagantec. "Our first priority is to the customer and this reinforces our commitment."

As part of the Foundry Program, Sagantec will have access to 0.5-, 0.35- and 0.25-( and future process technologies from UMC Group. It will provide design rule manuals for each technology and Design Rule Check (DRC) decks. With this information, Sagantec will develop technology files used by DREAM and its other software. These technology files will be certified against the DRC deck.

"Our customers want to move quickly to new technology processes as they become available," notes Jim Ballingall, vice president of worldwide marketing for UMC Group (USA) in Sunnyvale, Calif. "This partnership will help designers leverage new process technologies and get products to market faster."

DREAM enables the reuse and optimization of hard intellectual property (IP) for deep submicron design. It migrates a physical layout design from one process technology to another, adapting it to new, usually smaller process design rules. Library designers and hard IP users can quickly reuse an existing library, blocks or full chips.

Technology files will be available from Sagantec in Q3 1999. For more details, contact sales at (888) SAGANTEC or via email at info@sagantec.com.

About Sagantec

Sagantec is the leading supplier of software, methodologies and services that enable the reuse and re-layout of hard IP for deep submicron design. Its tools ensure designers can efficiently implement systems on silicon; meet time to market and time to volume requirements; and take full advantage of the latest process technology, while being assured true process independence. Privately held and funded, Sagantec was founded in 1993 in Israel. Corporate headquarters for its worldwide sales, marketing, technical services and applications organization is located at 46505 Landing Parkway, Fremont, Calif. 94538.

Telephone: (510) 360-5200. Facsimile: (510) 360-5255.

Its Web Site is located at:http://www.sagantec.com.

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