Actel Strategic Deal With GateField Further Strengthens Its ASIC Products and Services.SUNNYVALE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aug. 17, 1998-- Acquisition of Design Services Business and FLASH Logic Product Rights Positions Actel as Complete Solution Provider for Reprogrammable ASIC (Application Specific Integrated Circuit) Pronounced "a-sick." A chip that is custom designed for a specific application rather than a general-purpose chip such as a microprocessor. Systems Actel Corporation, (NASDAQ NASDAQ in full National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations U.S. market for over-the-counter securities. Established in 1971 by the National Association of Securities Dealers (NASD), NASDAQ is an automated quotation system that reports on :ACTL ACTL American College of Trial Lawyers (Irvine, California) ACTL Access Carrier Terminal Location ACTL Activation Library ACTL Automated Compatibility Test Laboratory ACTL Association Cultural Turkey-Luxembourg ), today further defined the multi-year strategic alliance with GateField Corporation (NASDAQ SmallCap:GATEC GATEC Government Acquisition Through Electronic Commerce ) announced on Friday, which positions Actel as a solution provider for reprogrammable ASIC (application specific integrated circuit integrated circuit (IC), electronic circuit built on a semiconductor substrate, usually one of single-crystal silicon. The circuit, often called a chip, is packaged in a hermetically sealed case or a nonhermetic plastic capsule, with leads extending from it for ) systems. The alliance provides for initial cash and periodic payments by Actel to GateField. Actel will also share gross profits from its sale of GateField's ProASIC products as well as take an equity stake in GateField. The alliance gives Actel the exclusive right to market and sell GateField's Standard ProASIC products in process geometries of 0.25-micron and smaller, as well as GateField's ASICmaster design tool software, as part of Actel's PLD (Programmable Logic Device) Refers to a variety of logic chips that are programmable at the customer's site, the customer being the vendor of the finished chip, not the end user. (programmable logic device See PLD. ) and design suite product families. In addition, Actel has purchased GateField's 15-person Design Services Business Unit, located in Mt. Arlington, N.J. Under the terms of the strategic alliance, GateField will provide Actel with a 0.25-micron ProASIC product family that is expected to support densities of up to half a million programmable logic See PLD. gates. The alliance further provides for migration to smaller process technologies with the potential to produce multi-million gate devices. Actel develops FPGAs (field programmable gate arrays) based on non-volatile antifuse technology, with current products ranging in size from 2K-36K gates. With the addition of the Standard ProASIC line, Actel adds reprogrammable FLASH-based FPGA (Field Programmable Gate Array) A type of gate array that is programmed in the field rather than in a semiconductor fab. Containing up to hundreds of thousands of gates, there are a variety of FPGA architectures on the market. products ranging in size between 50K-500K gates. Unique ProASIC Benefits FLASH-based ProASIC products offer some obvious benefits over other programmable devices available on the market today. Unlike SRAM See static RAM. SRAM - static random-access memory and FPGA programmable products, which are either non-volatile or reprogrammable, ProASIC devices are uniquely non-volatile and reprogrammable. ProASIC devices allow designers to use their standard ASIC design flow, with no new design methodologies to learn, saving both time and money. ProASIC products permit a seamless migration to standard ASIC designs, again saving time and money. In addition, ProASIC's high gate density translates into high performance capabilities. "This alliance is a rather unique business opportunity that greatly enhances our ability to provide solutions to the programmable logic market," said Carl Burrow, vice president of marketing at Actel. "FLASH ProASIC products substantially broaden our product offering and carry considerable benefits as a design option for Actel's customers." Burrow continued, "Adding an established in-house electronic design service group gives us increased flexibility to our customers in solving their design problems and fills in another piece of the puzzle in our becoming a 'complete solution' company. When our AutoGate Logic acquisition is complete, and silicon is available for our SPGA See PGA. SPGA - Staggered Pin Grid Array SRAM reprogrammable devices by year's end, I envision Actel as having the most momentum and broadest product and services offering in the PLD industry." ProASIC Product Information The non-volatile, single-device, reprogrammable Standard ProASIC products are developed from GateField's patented, FLASH-based reprogrammable ASIC technology and architecture. ProASIC devices exhibit a high level of portability between PLD and ASIC design flows. The 0.25-micron ProASIC products are closely coupled with ASICmaster automated place-and-route EDA (1) (Electronic Design Automation) Using the computer to design, lay out, verify and simulate the performance of electronic circuits on a chip or printed circuit board. design tool software optimized for top- down, HDL (Hardware Description Language) A language used to describe the functions of an electronic circuit for documentation, simulation or logic synthesis (or all three). Although many proprietary HDLs have been developed, Verilog and VHDL are the major standards. design and methodology. In addition, Actel's newly acquired GateField Design Services Business Unit will help facilitate customer engineering tasks such as verification, rapid prototyping Building a part one layer at a time using a method of additive fabrication such as 3D printing. Such parts are used for concept modeling to determine if the product design meets the customer's expectations. and design conversions. ASICmaster software, running on UNIX UNIX Operating system for digital computers, developed by Ken Thompson of Bell Laboratories in 1969. It was initially designed for a single user (the name was a pun on the earlier operating system Multics). and Windows NT platforms, accepts netlists from standard mask programmable ASIC tools provided by companies such as Exemplar, Mentor Graphics, ViewLogic, Cadence, and Synopsys. ASICmaster performs place and route of the design into the selected device and provides back-annotated delay information for simulation. Once the design is verified, ASICmaster downloads the layout into a device programmer for chip programming. Design services are provided as needed as needed prn. See prn order. to help the customer accelerate verification, prototyping, and time-to-market. Siemens Semiconductor Group's Dresden Foundry Because of its agreement with GateField, Actel also expects to benefit from GateField's recently announced strategic alliance with Siemens Semiconductor Group of Munich, Germany(a). This GateField relationship provides access to Siemens' 0.25-micron FLASH process technology at its new, state-of-the-art wafer fabrication facility in Dresden, Germany, plus assembly and test support. About Actel Corporation Actel is dedicated to providing logic designers with the capability and confidence to successfully move up to higher complexity designs. The company is the world's leading supplier of antifuse-based field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs) and associated software development tools. FPGAs are used by designers of communications, computer, medical, military/aerospace, industrial control, and other electronic systems to differentiate their products and get them to market faster. Actel is traded on the Nasdaq National Market under the symbol ACTL and is located at 955 East Arques Avenue, Sunnyvale, CA., 94086-4533. Telephone: 408/739-1010. Internet address, http://www.actel.com. Safe Harbor Safe Harbor 1. A legal provision to reduce or eliminate liability as long as good faith is demonstrated. 2. A form of shark repellent implemented by a target company acquiring a business that is so poorly regulated that the target itself is less attractive. Provision: Actel's operating results are subject to a multitude of risks that could cause actual results to differ materially from past or projected performance, including general economic conditions and a variety of risks specific to Actel or characteristic of the semiconductor industry, such as fluctuating demand, intense competition, rapid technological change and related intellectual property and international trade issues, wafer and other supply shortages, and booking and shipment uncertainties. For discussion of these and other factors that could have a materially adverse effect on Actel's operating results, please see "Risk Factors" in Actel's most recent Forms 10-K and 10-Q, which will be provided to you free of charge upon request. (a) See: "GateField and Siemens Sign Foundry Agreement: ProASIC Products will Use Siemens' Leading Edge 0.25-micron FLASH Technology," June 1, 1998 at http://www.gatefield.com. Note to Editors: The Actel name and logo are trademarks of the Actel Corporation. GateField, ProASIC and ASICmaster are trademarks of the GateField Corporation. All other trademarks or registered trademarks are the property of their respective businesses.
CONTACT: Actel Corporation
Carl Burrow or Clive Jones, 408/739-1010
or
Walt & Company
Don Davis, 408/496-0900
ddavis@walt.com
|
|
||||||||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion