eASIC Raises $5 Million in Third Round of Funding from Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers

Vinod Khosla, KPCB Partner is Joining eASIC Board of Directors

San Jose, California, May 28, 2004 -- eASIC^® Corporation, a provider of breakthrough Structured ASIC technology and products, today announced that it has secured $5million in equity financing from Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, in a third round of funding. The previous funding rounds involved angel investors and semiconductor industry veterans. Vinod Khosla, who was named the Silicon Valley's most successful venture capitalist, is joining eASIC Board of Directors.

The new funds will be used to complete the Structured ASIC product family and tools set that are being jointly developed with Flextronics Semiconductor and Magma Design Automation. These products are based on eASIC’s innovative Structured ASIC technology that has been validated by ST Microelectronics and proven in silicon for its high performance and density. The first product member has been taped-out and the full family is scheduled for production release at 0.13 micron process technology in early 2005. In addition, the funding will be used for enhancing sales and marketing, promoting the Structured eASIC product in the US and Japan.

“KP is always looking for companies who are strongly positioned to change their respective industry,” said Vinod Khosla, Partner at Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers. “We were intrigued by eASIC’s innovative approach to customizing electronic designs in today’s challenging nanotechnology environment. While going through comprehensive due diligence, we recognized eASIC’s solid patent portfolio and the viability of its technology, along with the critical industry need for such a solution. eASIC has developed a unique ASIC technology that replaces the disadvantageous programmable interconnect of FPGA’s with customized interconnect that provides density and performance close to standard cell, while only using a single custom via layer. Moreover, since via customization is a perfect fit for direct-write eBeam, it allows eASIC to offer maskless lithography and NRE-free ASICs. We are confident that eASIC, with its breakthrough Structured ASIC technology has the potential of becoming a major player in the semiconductor ASIC market.”

“We are extremely pleased to receive our first VC funding from the leading VC firm and to have Vinod Khosla, the most respected venture capitalist, join our board,” said Zvi Or-Bach, eASIC President and CEO. “As a new start-up, joining KP’s portfolio companies, we are honored and challenged by the track record of their previous investments in companies such as Sun, AOL, Netscape, Amazon, Juniper, Genentech and Google.”

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