UMC Unveils Chipsizer: Online Tool Estimates Die Size and Silicon Cost; Foundry Provides Real-time Online "What-if" Analyses for SOC Development.

Business Editors/High-Tech Writers

SUNNYVALE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct. 30, 2000

UMC (NYSE: UMC), a world leading semiconductor foundry, today introduced Chipsizer, the first publicly available online tool that allows designers and design managers to easily estimate die size and silicon cost early in the product definition phase.

Marketing managers can work with their design team to add and subtract product features and get instant feedback on the impact on product cost. Users can access the tool at www.umc.com. Chipsizer is a product of nTool, Inc., a Silicon Valley company.

Chipsizer enables users to create a graphical display of their chip by selecting from an extensive menu of library and IP elements (such as memory blocks input and output buffers, microprocessor cores, soft cores, and PLLs) from UMC's Gold IP(TM) catalog and entering other design information, such as the number of random logic gates, customer-specific macros, and pad types. Chipsizer then instantly generates a display of the chip and estimated die size within the browser window. The tool can also estimate gross die per wafer, net die wafer, and die price when the user enters projected defect density and wafer cost.

"Chipsizer is another important component of our e-Business strategy that addresses a critical requirement for SOC designers," said Ed Wan, vice president of field engineering at UMC USA. "We are helping them reduce time-to-market cycles by providing a die size and cost estimation tool in an easy-to-use package, from a reliable source. For the first time, everything needed for silicon estimation is available online through the convenience of a web browser."

Chipsizer allows users to add new features into their design and see how they affect the die size. For I/O limited designs, users can change the pad pitch or replace inline I/Os with staggered I/O to see if that will reduce the die size. Users can add a layer of metal and see if the added wafer cost will be offset by the improved routing density and therefore require a smaller die size. In addition, users can migrate a design from 0.18-micron to 0.15-micron technology to determine the affect on die size and cost.

"With Chipsizer, you can quickly do several `what if' scenarios and see which design options give the best result," said Ajay Shingal, vice president and general manager from the Digital IC business unit at Tality. "It saves my engineers the time and trouble of locating all the datasheets from the numerous library and IP providers and from looking up gate density and IP sizes. Most of the data needed is already in Chipsizer."

About UMC

UMC, a world leading semiconductor foundry, operates seven wafer fabs in Taiwan's Hsinchu Science Park. UMC's Japanese subsidiary, Nippon Foundry Inc., has one fab in Japan and UMC's joint venture with Hitachi, Trecenti Technologies, is readying to ramp production in its 300mm fab in Japan. UMC has also started construction on a 300mm facility in Taiwan's Tainan Science Park, with pilot production scheduled to start by third quarter 2001. UMC is a leader in foundry technology, with facilities ramping to reach an annual output of 2.4 million eight-inch equivalent wafers per year in 2000. UMC's joint development program with IBM and Infineon Technologies schedules introduction of the Worldlogic standard 0.13-micron technology this year. UMC serves customers around the world through sales and marketing offices located in the United States, Japan, and the Netherlands. UMC can be found on the web at http://www.umc.com.

Note From UMC Concerning Forward-Looking Statements 

Some of the statements in the foregoing announcement are forward looking within the meaning of the U.S. Federal Securities laws, including statements about future outsourcing, wafer capacity, technologies, business relationships and market conditions. Investors are cautioned that actual events and results could differ materially from these statements as a result of a variety of factors, including conditions in the overall semiconductor market and economy; acceptance and demand for products from UMC; and technological and development risks.

Keyword: semiconductor