Artisan Components Delivers Industry's First Suite Of Library Products For TSMC's Nexsys 90-Nanometer Technology

Extends Artisan and TSMC's Long Term Relationship With Announcement of Free Library Products Immediately Available For Download From Artisan's Website

SUNNYVALE, Calif., -- November 20, 2002 -- Artisan Components, Inc., (Nasdaq: ARTI), a leading provider of semiconductor intellectual property (IP), today announced the immediate availability of simulation views for the industry's first suite of library products optimized for Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company's (TSMC's) Nexsys™ 90-nanometer (CLN90G) process technology. As part of Artisan's Free Library Program, licensed customers can download these products from Artisan's website at no charge.

Artisan's suite of library products, developed under terms of an on-going agreement between Artisan and TSMC, include Artisan's SAGE-X™ Standard Cell Library, memory generators for single- and dual-port SRAM, single- and two-port register files and diffusion programmable ROM. The products are fully compliant with TSMC's 90-nanometer design rules, characterized using TSMC's latest electrical models and include support for Artisan's extensive set of simulation views and physical design models of the industry's leading EDA tools.

"The delivery of these 90-nanometer library products is a result of our long-term relationship with Artisan and the commitment both companies have for providing quality SoC enabling technologies," said Dr. Genda Hu, vice president, TSMC Corporate Marketing. "Offering designers the ability to begin their design implementations today allows them to immediately exploit the advantages of TSMC's Nexsys 90-nanometer technology for SoC."

"This milestone leverages the years of cooperation between Artisan and TSMC in providing customers with early access to design solutions in advanced technologies like the Nexsys 90-nanometer process," said Mark Templeton, president and CEO of Artisan Components. "Extensive customer feedback from designs in 0.15- and 0.13-micron technologies has resulted in Artisan 90-nanometer products with a wide range of new features focused on design for manufacturability in deep sub-micron technologies."

New Product Features
Artisan's new memory generators include an enhanced version of Artisan's Flex-Repair™ redundancy technology, optional error correction circuits (ECC) to perform soft error repair and memory built-in-self-test (BIST) support. Developed in close cooperation with leading suppliers of design-for-test (DFT) solutions, Artisan's memory solutions are designed with an "open-standard" interface to allow easy interoperability with either proprietary or leading third-party embedded memory test solutions.

Artisan's SAGE-X Cell Library, a standard in the industry across technology nodes from 0.25-to 0.13-micron, offers customers a migration path to 90-nanometer technology. The CLN90G library has both standard and low leakage configurations, allowing users to optimize their design for speed and leakage power simultaneously. In addition, the SAGE-X Library provides a robust solution for signal integrity issues.

Product Availability
Simulation views for Artisan's memory generators and the standard configuration of SAGE-X Standard Cell Library are available immediately. Simulation views for the SAGE-X Standard Cell Library configured for low leakage are expected to be available at the end of Q4 2002. Complete views for all these products are expected to be available in the first quarter of 2003. Under Artisan's Foundry Library Program, these library products can be downloaded by licensed customers free-of-charge from Artisan's web site at http://www.artisan.com. TSMC library users should contact Artisan directly for more information via e-mail at tsmc_lib@artisan.com or via telephone at 877-ARTILIB (877-278-4542).

Safe Harbor Statement
This press release contains forward-looking statements, including, without limitation, statements regarding the impact of Artisan's library products on designers' ability to exploit the advantages of TSMC's Nexsys 90-nanometer technology, the migration of designs to 90 nanometer technology, the availability of Artisan library products for TSMC's 90-nanometer process and the success of TSMC customer designs. These statements are subject to various risks and uncertainties, including, but not limited to technical or other difficulties that delay or prevent the availability of the 90-nanometer library products; technical or other difficulties inherent in the design and manufacture of semiconductors; and market acceptance of our 90-nanometer library products. We refer you also to the documents that Artisan files from time-to-time with the Securities and Exchange Commission, in particular the section entitled "Factors Affecting Future Operating Results" in Artisan's annual report on Form 10-K and its quarterly reports on Forms 10-Q. Artisan assumes no obligation to update the forward-looking statements or other statements contained herein.

About Artisan Components
Artisan Components, Inc. is a leading semiconductor intellectual property (IP) provider. The company's design platforms are licensed to over 1000 companies worldwide. Artisan's design platforms provide IC designers with a common interface to a range of process technologies from the world's leading foundries. Built on Artisan's Process-Perfect™ memory generators, standard cell and I/O libraries, Artisan's design platforms include a comprehensive set of views and models supporting leading design tools and methodologies. Artisan's worldwide network of EDA, IP and design service partners extend the Artisan standard to a complete set of system level design and integration solutions. Artisan is headquartered in Sunnyvale, California. More information about Artisan Components, including free library access can be found at: http://www.artisan.com.

###

Artisan Components is a registered trademark and Process-Perfect is a trademark of Artisan Components, Inc. All other trademarks or registered trademarks are the property of their respective owners.