TSMC Leads Industry by Utilizing VCX Transaction System for 5-Star IP Website; Foundry Leader Creates New Business Model for IP by Aligning with VCX.

Business Editors/High-Tech Writers

EDINBURGH, Scotland--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct. 23, 2000

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (NYSE:TSM), the world's leading semiconductor foundry, will implement a new online venue to facilitate the exchange of IP. The new venue will be available by year-end and will support TSMC's industry-leading, silicon-proven IP portfolio, and utilize the Virtual Component Exchange (VCX) transaction platform for exchanging semiconductor intellectual property.

"TSMC is working with the VCX to accelerate use and re-use of IP for the benefit of our customers and the semiconductor industry as a whole," said Peyman Kazemkhani, IP Alliance program director at TSMC. "This new IP exchange venue will streamline the design process by providing designers with the VCX Transactionware(TM) functionality for securing proven IP for faster time-to-market. TSMC's leadership position in facilitating IP exchanges will broaden our extensive design services offering, once again re-drawing the line for premier foundry services."

TSMC has aligned with the VCX in its effort to provide an industry-standard exchange to more efficiently present, buy and sell IP. The TSMC venue leverages the VCX exchange model and simplifies the legal process by allowing consolidation of multiple IP licenses on a single chip. Buying and incorporating IP through the VCX will ensure reduced time-to-market for new designs while offering protection, support and a sustainable business model for both IP providers and users.

TSMC is implementing this initiative through a direct link from TSMC's 5-Star IP website at www.tsmc.com and online.tsmc.com, to the VCX semiconductor IP exchange at www.thevcx.com.

"With the launch of the world's first Internet-based, regulated trading exchange for semiconductor intellectual property, VCX has created an important milestone for the electronics industry. Part of our strategy is to `transaction-enable' other venues on the Internet which can benefit from a proven, safe and efficient transaction methodlogy," said Andy Travers, CEO of the VCX. "TSMC has recognized the importance of this development and immediately seized upon an innovative method for delivering this capability to our mutual customers."

About TSMC

TSMC is the world's largest dedicated semiconductor foundry, providing the industry's leading process technology, library and IP options and other leading-edge foundry services. TSMC operates seven eight-inch wafer fabs (Fab 3, 4, 5, 6, TASMC, WSMC and WaferTech), and two six-inch wafer fabs (Fabs 1 and 2). In addition, the company has begun construction of a $1.2 billion joint venture fab with Philips Semiconductor, which is scheduled to open in Singapore in 2000. TSMC recently broke ground for its first 12-inch fabs, Fab 7 in Tainan and Fab 12 in Hsin-Chu. In 2000, TSMC expects to have the capacity for nearly 3.4 million 8-inch equivalent wafers. Fabrication processes offered by TSMC include CMOS logic, mixed-mode, volatile and non-volatile memory, and BiCMOS. TSMC's corporate headquarters are in Hsin-Chu, Taiwan. More information about TSMC is available through the World Wide Web at http://www.tsmc.com.

About VCX

The Virtual Component Exchange (VCX), is a unique business to business (B2B), e-commerce organisation. It has created the first structured exchange for trading Semiconductor Intellectual Property (SIP) located at www.thevcx.com. The e-commerce VCX TradeFloor together with the VCX TransactionWare toolset links the engineering, procurement and legal functions of both buyers and sellers with a common toolset and language. This ultimately accelerates completed transactions between buyers and sellers so the VCX fulfills their common business imperative of getting more products to market in shorter time cycles. Visit the web site at http://www.thevcx.com.