Global Unichip Expands Use of Magma Software, Adopts Quartz Verification Products for Taiwan's First 65-nanometer Tapeout.

Quartz DRC Litho Identifies Hotspots, Ensures Compliance to Leading Foundries' Lithography and Process Requirements

SAN JOSE, Calif. & HSINCHU, Taiwan -- Magma[R] Design Automation Inc. (Nasdaq:LAVA), a provider of semiconductor design software, today announced that Global Unichip Corp. (GUC) (TWO:3443), a leading system-on-chip (SoC) design foundry, used Magma's Quartz[TM] DRC Litho physical verification product for the first 65-nanometer (nm) tapeout by a Taiwan-based design company. Already a user of Magma's IC implementation software, GUC used Quartz DRC Litho to quickly and automatically identify hotspots. This capability is critical to ensuring manufacturability in nanometer designs. GUC adopted the Magma software to support its growing focus on deep submicron design services.

Quartz DRC Litho is one of the industry's first fully scalable physical verification solutions. Leveraging a unique architecture and advanced modeling capabilities, these revolutionary products make massively distributed processing of DRC and LVS comparisons affordable, and they integrate lithography process checks into the physical verification process. Combining this technology with the appropriate processing capability enables verification of virtually any design in a matter of hours.

"Without a sophisticated design methodology and appropriate tools, ensuring manufacturability at 65 nm is a tough challenge," said Jim Lai, president and chief operating officer of GUC. "We've already implemented several 90-nm designs using Magma's IC implementation system and the Sign-off in the Loop[TM] technology. This proven track record supports our commitment to improve yield and reduce turnaround time on advanced SoC designs, maximizing our added value to end customers."

"With ever-increasing design complexity and time-to-market pressures, designers need to be able to identify problems sooner and fix them faster," said John Lee, general manager of Magma's Physical Verification Business Unit. "We're pleased that the combination of Magma's IC implementation and physical verification solutions helped GUC with this achievement, and to add GUC to the growing list of Quartz DRC, Quartz DRC Litho and Quartz LVS users."

About Magma

Magma's software for integrated circuit (IC) design is recognized as embodying the best in semiconductor technology. The world's top chip companies use Magma's EDA software to design and verify complex, high-performance ICs for communications, computing, consumer electronics and networking applications, while at the same time reducing design time and costs. Magma provides software for IC implementation, analysis, physical verification, characterization and programmable logic design, and the company's integrated RTL-to-GDSII design flow offers "The Fastest Path from RTL to Silicon"[TM]. Magma is headquartered in Santa Clara, Calif. with offices around the world. Magma's stock trades on Nasdaq under the ticker symbol LAVA. Visit Magma Design Automation on the Web at www.magma-da.com.

About Global Unichip Corp.

Global Unichip Corp. (GUC), a dedicated full service SoC (System On Chip) Design Foundry based in Taiwan, was founded in 1998. GUC provides total solutions from silicon-proven IPs to complex time-to-market SoC turnkey services. GUC is committed to providing the most advanced and the best price-performance silicon solutions through close partnership with TSMC, GUC major shareholder, and other key packaging and testing power houses. With state of the art EDA tools, advanced methodologies, and experienced technical team, GUC ensures the highest quality and lowest risks to achieve first silicon success. GUC has established a global customer base throughout Greater China, Japan, Korea, North America, and Europe. Its track-record in complex SoC designs has brought benefits to customers in time to revenue at the lowest risk. For more information, please visit http://www.globalunichip.com.

Magma is a registered trademark and Quartz, Sign-off in the Loop and "The Fastest Path from RTL to Silicon" are trademarks of Magma Design Automation Inc. All other product and company names are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective companies.

Forward-Looking Statements:

Except for the historical information contained herein, the matters set forth in this press release, including statements that Quartz DRC, Quartz LVS and Quartz DRC Litho provide better yields and faster physical verification and generally about the features and benefits of Magma software are forward-looking statements within the meaning of the "safe harbor" provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially including, but not limited to GUC's decision to continue using Magma software, Magma's ability to keep pace with rapidly changing technology and products' abilities to produce desired results. Further discussion of these and other potential risk factors may be found in Magma's public filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (www.sec.gov). Magma undertakes no additional obligation to update these forward-looking statements.