TSMC/GUC 65LP ARM 1176JZF hardened cores Open Doors for 65nm Designers

Hsinchu, Taiwan, R.O.C. – April, 20, 2009 – TSMC (TSE: 2330, NYSE: TSM) and GUC (TSE: 3443) today jointly announced that they have successfully implemented and obtained silicon samples of a high speed ARM 1176 core on TSMC’s 65 LP process, and an ultra low power ARM 1176 core which has been validated in GUC’s low power design platform. The first of the new developments is an ARM 1176JZF core capable of operation up to 1.10 GHz. This high performance ARM core is implemented with speed oriented recipes developed in house. It attests the excellent capability of TSMC’s design technologies that are available to customers.

The second of the new developments is an ARM 1176JZF core with GUC’s ultra low power solution. This low power-oriented ARM core supports on-chip MTCMOS and state retention power gating (SRPG) registers, dynamic voltage and frequency scaling (DVFS), adaptive voltage scaling (AVS), process and temperature sensor modules (PTSM), and dynamic clock generator (DCG) features. This ARM core can operate in 8 power modes with 3 voltage islands inside, capable of operation up to 610 MHz. Working with real time detection scheme and firmware control, this ARM core has demonstrated capability to achieve 80% reduction of core dynamic power and over 99% of the static leakage power in the sleep mode, thus satisfactorily validating the design flow for achieving the low power design requirements. TSMC and GUC have accumulated significant experiences in designing and manufacturing ICs in 65nm and 90nm processes, and have long been aware of customer frustrations at not being able to secure high performance and low power ARM cores to use in their designs. The demonstration of these new ARM cores and the validated design flow for low power allows customers to safely adopt these ARM processors and this design flow in their various applications, and opens up the possibilities for 65nm designers to achieve the needed performance or power consumption saving.

“As customers’ applications migrate to 65nm technology, we are proud to say that TSMC and GUC continue to excel at supporting our customers with IP, such as ARM cores, with performances that are difficult for customer to achieve themselves, to satisfy their pressing requirements for low power and high performance,” said Fu-Chieh Hsu, vice president of Design & Technology Platform at TSMC . “More importantly we continue our tradition of enabling customers to achieve shorter product design cycles and eventually faster return on their investments.” Jim Lai, president and COO of GUC also said “By collaborating with TSMC’s design and technology teams, we have successfully developed this low power design platform and satisfactorily addressed customers’ demands on power management and speed performance, and lowered the entry barrier for our customers to benefit, in the shortest possible time, from GUC’s design expertise and TSMC’s advanced design and process capabilities.”Information about licensing the design kit of these ARM 1176 cores and the low power design platform may be obtained at TSMC’s and GUC’s sales offices through out the world.

About TSMC

TSMC is the world’s largest dedicated semiconductor foundry, providing the industry’s leading process technology and the foundry’s largest portfolio of process-proven libraries, IP, design tools and reference flows. The Company’s total managed capacity in 2008 exceeded 9 million (8-inch equivalent) wafers, including capacity from two advanced 12-inch - GigaFabs ™, four eight-inch fabs, one six-inch fab, as well as TSMC’s wholly owned subsidiaries, WaferTech and TSMC (China), and its joint venture fab, SSMC. TSMC is the first foundry to provide 40nm production capabilities. Its corporate headquarters are in Hsinchu, Taiwan. For more information about TSMC please visit http://www.tsmc.com

About GUC

Global Unichip Corp. (GUC), a dedicated full service SoC (System On Chip) Design Foundry based in Taiwan, was founded in 1998. GUC is now publicly traded on the Taiwan Stock Exchange under the symbol 3443. GUC provides total solutions from silicon-proven IPs to complex time-to-market SoC turnkey services. GUC is committed to providing the most advanced and the best price-performance silicon solutions through close partnership with TSMC, GUC’s major shareholder, and other key packaging and testing power houses. With state of the art EDA tools, advanced methodologies, and experienced technical team, GUC ensures the highest quality and lowest risks to achieve first silicon success. GUC has established a global customer base throughout Greater China, Japan, Korea, North America, and Europe. Its track-record in complex SoC designs has brought benefits to customers in time to revenue at the lowest risk. For more information about GUC please see http://www.globalunichip.com