Faraday Announces Highly-Integrated Programmable SerDes-Based Communication Platform ASIC

HSINCHU, Taiwan and SUNNYVALE, Calif. -- Oct. 3, 2006 -- Faraday Technology Corporation (TAIEX: 3035), a leading ASIC, Structured ASIC and IP provider, today announced NC Express(TM), the most state-of-the-art member of its flagship Composer(TM) Structured ASIC product line targeting communication, networking and enterprise applications. The device is a highly integrated SoC platform that combines Faraday's industry leading Metal Programmable Cell Array (MPCA(TM)) Structured ASIC technology with a high- performance low-latency data path architecture.

Semiconductor and system companies can use Faraday's NC Express to serve as a foundation platform for architecting a cost-effective merchant SoC/ASSP device or system-level ASICs. With 60% of the final design already completed using silicon-proven IP blocks, NC Express enables complex networking chips to be developed with 1/2 the engineering resources, a fraction of the NRE costs, while offering a minimum of 3x faster time to market advantage to SoC design teams. The device solves real SoC challenges by reducing IP verification and evaluation time, mitigating physical design and signal integrity risks associated with high-speed I/O integration, while future proofing the device with metal programmability.

Launched as the follow-on to the company's successful NetComposer-1 (NC-1) platform, NC Express is the first in a family of SerDes-based platform ASIC products broadening Faraday's reach into networking, data center, security, and enterprise end markets, with built-in intelligence for dual-core SoC designs. The device includes a number of pre-diffused communication controllers, eight programmable multi-protocol SerDes channels supporting PCIe, GbE, 10GbE/XAUI, SATA/SAS, FC, and sRIO date rates (1.25 - 3.125 Gbps), a 400/533 MHz DDR-2 memory controller with ECC, and a high-speed ARM(TM)v4 compatible CPU running Linux O/S with associated peripherals. Additionally, the chip includes 4x GbE MACs, a10GbE/XAUI MAC, and a complete PCI Express controller with associated SerDes PCS layers.

The metal programmable flexibility combined with advanced system-level IP integration in NC Express make the device suitable for a variety of SoC designs targeting high-performance, low-cost, and yet power-sensitive applications including various AdvancedMC(TM) I/O blades for ATCA and MicroTCA(TM) platforms (AMC.x); NICs for server, storage and data centers; networking protocol bridges; and single-chip enterprise, NAS, and home gateway designs.

"The NC Express is a result of several years of market research and R&D cooperation with our key customers and IP partners," said H.P. Lin, President of Faraday Technology Corporation. "The product demonstrates our commitment to the platform ASIC market as a vehicle to enable our customers to significantly reduce development costs and risks."

"With increasing cost to develop an ASIC, the NC Express product offers a timely, cost-effective and flexible alternative for medium-volume market segments," said Jag Bolaria, Senior Analyst at the Linley Group. "The product's metal programmable technology enables companies to apply a common architecture across multiple applications."

"NC Express builds on our successful application-oriented and market- focused Platform ASIC strategy," said Christopher Moezzi, Vice President of Marketing and Business Development for Faraday's International Business Unit. "Our differentiated approach in architecting Platform ASICs has enabled our ASSP customers to concentrate their design efforts on portions of the SoC where they add the most value, resulting in rapid portfolio expansion, faster time to market, and earlier ROI."

Pricing and Availability:

The FPGA EVB board for the NC Express is available now for customer evaluation, and Faraday is ready to accept customer Netlists for NC Express designs for samples in 2007. Unit volume pricing and NRE charges are available upon request.

Faraday will be demonstrating the NC express FPGA evaluation board during Oct 17-19th at the ATCA Summit in Santa Clara, CA. http://www.advancedtcasummit.com/

About Faraday Technology Corporation

Faraday Technology Corporation is a leading silicon IP and fabless ASIC vendor. The company's broad IP portfolio includes cell libraries, memory compilers, 32-bit RISC CPUs, DSPs, MPEG4, H.264, PHYs/Controllers for USB 2.0, 10/100 Ethernet, Serial ATA, PCI Express, etc. With more than 650 employees and 2005 revenue of US$175 million, Faraday is one of the largest fabless ASIC companies in the Asia-Pacific region, and it also has significant presences worldwide. Headquartered in Taiwan, Faraday has service and support offices around the world, including the U.S., Japan, Europe, and China. For more information, please visit: www.faraday-tech.com

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