Xilinx Press Release #0227

NEWS EMBARGO FEBRUARY 25, 2002

SAN JOSE, Calif., February 25, 2002 —Xilinx, Inc. (NASDAQ:XLNX) and UMC today unveiled the industry’s first CPLD process technology scalable to 100 nanometer. Xilinx began shipping samples of its 0.18 micron, 1.8 volt CoolRunner-II RealDigital CPLDs, based on the new process technology, late in 2001 and plans introduction of a 0.13 micron CPLD process in the first half of 2003.  The 0.13 micron devices will operate at 1.5 to 1.2 volt.

“The manufacturing process that Xilinx and our foundry partner UMC jointly developed for our CoolRunner-II RealDigital devices is highly modular and scalable,” said Evert Wolsheimer, vice president and general manager of the CPLD Division at Xilinx.  “We are well on our way to scaling to 0.13 micron, and expect to have products based on that technology early next year.  Non-volatile technologies used for CPLDs are traditionally two generations behind logic processes used for FPGAs. Our new approach allows us to close most of that gap, and allows a higher synergy between our CPLD and FPGA technology and design engineers, while maintaining the non-volatile character of the CPLD product. We expect to introduce 100 nanometer CPLDs no more than six months after the introduction of 100 nanometer FPGAs.”

“The development of this new CPLD manufacturing process is a natural extension of the longstanding relationship between UMC and Xilinx,” Wolsheimer said. UMC, based in Taiwan, has been the chief supplier of Xilinx Virtex and Spartan FPGA wafers for several years and also manufactures the Xilinx XC9500 (5 volt), XC9500XL (3.3 volt) and XC9500XV (2.5 volt) CPLDs in addition to the first and second generations of CoolRunner devices.

Fu Tai Liou, chief officer of sales and marketing for UMC, said, “UMC and Xilinx have had a long history of cooperating in the delivery of industry leading FPGA and CPLD products built using UMC’s state-of-the-art foundry technology. We are happy to continue this productive relationship through the acceleration of the CPLD roadmap with this new, highly scalable technology platform.” 

Xilinx CoolRunner-II RealDigital CPLDs feature the Fast Zero Power (FZP) design technology that provides both high performance and ultra low-power consumption and no cost penalty. Using the FZP all-digital core, CoolRunner-II devices offer a new alternative to traditional CPLDs that use analog sense amplifiers and consume much more power.

About UMC
UMC (NYSE: UMC, TSE: 2303) is a world-leading semiconductor foundry that manufactures advanced process ICs for applications spanning every major sector of the semiconductor industry. UMC delivers the cutting-edge foundry technologies that enable sophisticated system-on-chip (SOC) designs, including 0.13-micron copper/low k, embedded DRAM, and mixed signal/RFCMOS. In addition, UMC is a leader in 300mm manufacturing with three strategically located 300mm fabs to serve our global customer base: Fab 12A in Taiwan, UMCi in Singapore (completion in 2002), and AU Pte. Ltd., a joint venture facility with AMD also located in Singapore (production in 2005). 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.

About Xilinx
Xilinx is the leading supplier of complete programmable logic solutions, including advanced integrated circuits, software design tools, predefined system functions delivered as intellectual property cores, and unparalleled field engineering support. Founded in 1984 and headquartered in San Jose, Calif., Xilinx invented the field programmable gate array (FPGA) and fulfills more than half of the world demand for these devices today. Xilinx solutions enable customers to reduce significantly the time required to develop products for the computer, peripheral, telecommunications, networking, industrial control, instrumentation, aerospace, defense, low power portable, and consumer markets. For more information, visit the Xilinx web site at http://www.xilinx.com.