TSMC Foundry Services Available for Rambus-Based Controller Chips.

Business Editors/High-Tech Writers

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Feb. 22, 2000

Rambus Inc. (Nasdaq:RMBS) today announced that its Direct Rambus ASIC Cell (RAC) chip connection interface technology is now available in Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company's (TSMC) 0.25-micron process technology.

This new Direct RAC core implementation provides TSMC customers with a high-speed on-chip interface that is fully compatible with Direct Rambus memories and other products using this interface technology.

"Pre-verified cores are a key requirement for designers of high-performance SOC solutions," said Roger Fisher, senior director of corporate marketing for TSMC North America. "This interface technology from Rambus meets a growing need expressed by TSMC's customers. Interest in this technology will continue to increase as Rambus moves the RAC to TSMC's 0.18-micron process."

"The addition of TSMC's high-quality, volume-production foundry capabilities significantly expands the manufacturing options for designers of Rambus-based systems," said Avo Kanadjian, vice president of worldwide marketing at Rambus, Inc. "Additionally, both Rambus and TSMC are working to port this innovative chip connection technology to TSMC's 0.18-micron process."

With its 800 megabits-per-pin data rate, the Direct RAC is the highest bandwidth industry standard interface available for chip-to-chip interconnect.

In addition, the Direct RAC can be used to interface to Direct RDRAMs, which deliver unprecedented performance at 1.6 Gigabytes per second from a single device. End product applications include main memory chip sets, graphics controllers, multimedia controllers, peripheral controllers and network switch controllers.

Rambus Inc. develops and licenses high bandwidth chip connection technologies to enhance the performance of computers, consumer electronics and communications products.

Current Rambus-based computers supported by Intel chipsets include Dell, Compaq, Hewlett-Packard, and IBM PCs and workstations. Sony has announced that its next generation PlayStation2 video game system uses Rambus memory. Providers of Rambus-based integrated circuits include the world's leading DRAM, ASIC and PC controller manufacturers. Currently, eight of the world's top-10 semiconductor companies license Rambus technology.

More information on Rambus Inc. and its high bandwidth technologies is available at http://www.rambus.com.