PMC-Sierra and TSMC Collaborate to Develop System-on-Chip Products with Higher Levels of Integration

BURNABY, British Columbia--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dec. 19, 2001-- PMC-Sierra (Nasdaq:PMCS - news), a leading provider of broadband semiconductors, and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) (NYSE:TSM - news), a world-leading foundry, today announced a collaboration to develop system-on-chip (SoC) products using advanced 0.13-micron technologies.

PMC-Sierra's system-on-chip devices demonstrate the highest levels of integration using CMOS technologies, supporting multiple 3.125 Gbit/s Serial Links, SSTL2 interfaces, more than 12 Mbit of embedded SRAM, RISC Cores and greater than 4 Million logic gates on a single chip.

"Our 0.13-micron process is the industry's most advanced technology in volume production," said Rick Tsai, TSMC president. "To date, we have delivered 33 fully functional 0.13-micron products to our customers and expect to receive over 60 production tapeouts by the end of the year. Our process technology roadmap helps companies ramp leading-edge architectures, such as PMC-Sierra's MIPS-based processor products, quickly to volume production."

TSMC's advanced 0.13-micron process features a complete technology family, including core, high-performance, ultra-high-speed and low-power offerings. The 0.13-micron technology platform supports logic, embedded SRAM, embedded flash, and mixed-signal/RF technologies for system-on-chip applications. The process features copper interconnects and Low-K dielectrics from reduced interconnect delay.

"PMC-Sierra and TSMC are responding to our customers' demands for higher levels of integration without a compromise of high power expenditure and large footprint," said Greg Aasen, chief operating officer at PMC-Sierra. "We remain committed to providing leading-edge, low-power, high-density and performance solutions on the proven CMOS technology platform. As the leader in 0.13-micron manufacturing, TSMC continues to offer a technology roadmap that keeps in step with our device innovation that includes some of the most integrated semiconductors for the Internet Infrastructure."

PMC-Sierra is among the first companies to implement 0.13-micron system-on-chip designs with TSMC's process technology. PMC-Sierra has used the process to develop the RM7000B(TM) (64-bit MIPS-based processor with clock speeds up to 500 MHz) and the semiconductor industry's highest MIPS multiprocessor architecture for the communications market -- the RM9000x2(TM) (dual CPU cores running at 1 GHz). PMC-Sierra is also working with TSMC to port future products to TSMC's latest process technologies, including 0.10-micron.

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 two six-inch wafer fabs and six eight-inch wafer fabs. The Company also has substantial capacity commitments at two joint ventures fabs (Vanguard and SSMC) and WaferTech. In 2000, TSMC produced the foundry industry's first 300mm customer wafers and began constructing two dedicated 300mm fabs. 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 PMC-Sierra

PMC-Sierra is accelerating the broadband revolution. PMC-Sierra is a leading provider of high speed broadband communications semiconductors and MIPS-based processors for Access, Metro Transport and Optical Transport network equipment that make up the backbone of the Internet. The company offers worldwide technical and sales support, including a network of offices throughout North America, Europe and Asia. PMC-Sierra is included in the S&P 500 Index which consists of 500 stocks chosen for market size, liquidity, and industry group representation and in the Nasdaq-100 Index (NDX) which contains the largest non-financial companies on the Nasdaq Stock Market. PMC-Sierra is publicly traded on the Nasdaq Stock Market under the PMCS symbol. For more information about PMC-Sierra, visit http://www.pmc-sierra.com.