Silicon Integration Initiative Announces New Branch Office in Japan.

Business Editors/High-Tech Writers

AUSTIN, Texas--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 26, 2004

The Silicon Integration Initiative (Si2) announced the opening of a new branch office in Tokyo, Japan to provide service for existing Si2 members and to promote Si2 initiatives such as the OpenAccess Coalition and the Design-to-Mask Coalition. The office will be managed by Itsuo Suetsugu, General Manager, Japan Operations for Si2.

Mr. Suetsugu has a long and distinguished career in EDA, as a customer and as a vendor, throughout Japan:

-- Former manager of Mentor Graphics' marketing department. He

has intimate experience with launching new products and

concepts in the Japanese marketplace.

-- Founding member of the VSIA standards organization.

Suetsugu-san represented Mentor Graphics in the VSIA movement

and helped launch it in the Japanese market.

-- Member of the EIAJ working group to define a 4-year view of

emerging design processes and flows.

"Suetsugu-san's impressive experience in the Japanese EDA industry not only enables us to provide localized support for Si2 projects, but also to develop new opportunities that represent Japanese interests and further expand Si2's worldwide membership base," stated Steve Schulz, President and CEO of Si2. "Our current important members in Japan, such as Fujitsu and Renesas Technology Corporation, will benefit from increased priority and visibility, while new members will benefit from more balanced global collaboration efforts across the semiconductor and EDA industries."

"I look forward to my role in servicing current Si2 members and informing potential members about the exciting projects which Si2 is currently sponsoring, such as the OpenAccess project for EDA tool interoperability, and the Design-to-Mask Coalition working to extend the exchange of design and manufacturing data, with resulting lower costs and improved semiconductor yield," states Suetsugu-san.

About OpenAccess

OpenAccess is a community-driven initiative which provides an interoperability platform for complex IC design based on a common, open and extensible architecture. This is done through an open standard data access interface (API) and reference database implementation supporting that API. The OpenAccess technology enables easy tool integration from multiple vendors, smooth interoperability and faster application development. The initiative is driven by the OpenAccess Coalition, an organization comprised of world leaders in IC design. The OpenAccess Coalition operates under the governance and bylaws of Si2. For more information about OpenAccess, visit www.si2.org/openaccess and www.OpenEDA.si.org. Member companies are: Artisan Components (Nasdaq:ARTI), Cadence Design Systems (NYSE:CDN), CiraNova, ClioSoft, Hewlett-Packard (NYSE:HPQ), IBM (NYSE:IBM), IC Manage, Intel (Nasdaq:INTC), LogicVision (Nasdaq:LGVN), LSI Logic (NYSE:LSI), Mentor Graphics (Nasdaq:MENT), Motorola (NYSE:MOT), PDF Solutions (Nasdaq:PDFS), Philips Semiconductors (NYSE:PHG), Renesas Technology Corp., Sagantec, Silicon Canvas, STMicroelectronics (NYSE:STM), Sun Microsystems (Nasdaq:SUNW), Synchronicity, Synplicity (Nasdaq:SYNP), Tektronix (NYSE:TEK), and Verisity (Nasdaq:VRST).

About Si2

Si2 is a not-for-profit organization of industry-leading semiconductor and EDA tool companies focused on improving productivity and reducing cost in creating and producing integrated silicon systems. We believe that through collaborative efforts, the industry can achieve higher levels of systems-on-silicon integration while reducing the cost and complexity of integrating future design systems. Powerful economic and market forces are fueling demand for rapid integration and delivery of single chip solutions in a multi-vendor environment. Si2 is uniquely positioned to enable collaboration through a strong implementation focus driven by its member companies. Si2 represents members throughout North America, Europe, and Asia. For more information on Si2, visit www.si2.org.