Alliance aimed at further enhancing good wafer yields for complex SoC designs SAN JOSE, Calif. —August 16, 2004 — LogicVision, Inc. (NASDAQ: LGVN), a leading provider of embedded yield enhancement solutions for integrated circuits, today announced that it has aligned with UMC (NYSE: UMC) to provide the foundry’s customers with access to its wafer yield solution. The LogicVision design-for-diagnostic product offering is aimed at developing increasingly higher wafer yields at 90nm and below process geometries.
Electronics manufacturers are moving to 90nm and below technologies to take advantage of the significant benefits offered in terms of performance, power consumption and cost. Yet, over time, they want to achieve increasingly better yields. The LogicVision-UMC partnership is targeted at providing solutions that facilitate both faster time-to-market and faster time to-yield. LogicVision’s representative in Taiwan, Spirox, will provide local direct support to this project.
LogicVision products integrate advanced embedded test and diagnostic capabilities within a design, then leverage these embedded capabilities during silicon debug and product testing. Through deployment and effective use of LogicVision’s software on its testers, UMC has an additional solution to achieve rapid and accurate fault diagnosis and extensive performance characterization. Because UMC is already shipping 90mn silicon with good yields to customers, it was LogicVision’s leading foundry of choice for implementing this new program.
“We believe this alliance will establish a new standard for rapid diagnosis of process issues associated with the increased design and process complexities of advanced technologies, allowing a faster ramp to full silicon yield,” stated Frank Wen, UMC president. “UMC collaborates closely with customers to ensure their designs are realized in UMC silicon in the shortest time possible. As part of our strategy to increase the manufacturability of complex SOCs, we improve time-to-market and time-to-yield by partnering with leading companies such as LogicVision to increase our customer’s competitive advantage.”
Jim Healy, CEO of LogicVision added, “Some of the world's largest IC companies and many of our customers are currently utilizing UMC for the fabrication of their most advanced chips. We are excited to be a part of this opportunity to facilitate enhanced improvement in time-to-yield for our mutual customers.”
About LogicVision Inc.
LogicVision provides proprietary technology that enhances yield in the manufacturing of complex semiconductors. LogicVision’s embedded yield enhancement solution allows integrated circuit designers to embed test functionality that is used both during semiconductor production and throughout the useful life of the chip. Through use of these LogicVision “eyes” in the die, a customer can enhance their product yield; maximize quality, lower test costs and speed time to market.
About Spirox Corporation
Spirox is a leader in providing advanced solutions from IC design and fabrication through assembly and test for the semiconductor and TFT-LCD high-tech industries. The company offers total turn-key processes by integrating professional distribution and value-added solutions with Spirox manufactured products and information systems. The Spirox Corporation was founded in 1987 and is headquartered in Taiwan. The company also has operations in the USA, China, Japan, Korea, Singapore and Hong Kong with advanced technical centers in Hsinchu, Taiwan and Shanghai, PRC.
About UMC
UMC (NYSE: UMC, TSE: 2303) is a leading global semiconductor foundry that manufactures advanced process ICs for applications spanning every major sector of the semiconductor industry. UMC delivers cutting-edge foundry technologies that enable sophisticated system-on-chip (SOC) designs, including 90nm copper, 0.13um copper, and mixed signal/RFCMOS. UMC is also a leader in 300mm manufacturing; Fab 12A in Taiwan and Singapore-based UMCi are both in volume production for a variety of customer products. UMC employs over 10,500 people worldwide and has offices in Taiwan, Japan, Singapore, Europe, and the United States. UMC can be found on the web at http://www.umc.com.
UMC’s Note 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, and technological and development risks.
Forward Looking Statements
Except for the historical information contained herein, the matters set forth in this press release, including statements as to the expected benefits of the companies’ alliance and embedded test products and services are forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially, including, but not limited to, the impact of competitive products and technological advances, and other risks detailed in LogicVision's Form 10-Q for the quarter ended March 31, 2004, and from time to time in LogicVision's SEC reports. These forward-looking statements speak only as of the date hereof. LogicVision disclaims any obligation to update these forward-looking statements.
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