Artisan Announces "Gold" Design Center Partners

ServiceNet™ Gold Partners Pass Certification Process

SUNNYVALE, Calif., -- May 21, 2003 -- Artisan Components, Inc., (Nasdaq: ARTI), a leading provider of physical intellectual property (IP), today announced a new category of design center partners to assist customers to choose design centers with proven support of Artisan-based integrated circuit (IC) designs. The addition of "ServiceNet Gold" to the already in-place "ServiceNet" program distinguishes and promotes those partners who have passed Artisan's certification process and offer high quality design services for mutual customers.

Arcadia Design Systems, Inc., Cadence Design Systems, Inc., FMC SOTA Design Technology, Inc., Global Unichip Corporation, Goyatek Technology Inc. (also known as Goya), Progate Group Corporation (PGC) and Synopsys, Inc. represent some of the founding partners of this new program. These seven companies have worked with Artisan for at least three years and have extensive experience in Artisan-based IC design. ServiceNet Gold partners receive an enhanced level of Artisan support that includes training, next-engineer availability for rapid response and 24/7 support. Artisan anticipates that other design center partners may qualify for ServiceNet Gold status in the future.

"As a leader in physical IP, Artisan recognizes that enabling design center partners offers a significant benefit to our customers," commented Michael Ma, senior director of End User Business Development at Artisan. "Artisan provides choice in process technologies, and through ServiceNet Gold, now customers can also choose proven design service providers."

"Artisan's ServiceNet program has been instrumental for Synopsys to deliver first-time-right silicon, on schedule, to our mutual customers," said John Chilton, senior vice president and general manager, Intellectual Property and Design Services Group, Synopsys. "Our close collaboration and new ServiceNet Gold status will enable customers to take full advantage of Artisan's advanced library technology in a Synopsys Design Services engagement."

"The technology choice provided by Artisan libraries gives our design customers a head start on meeting aggressive design schedules," said Aurangzeb Khan, vice president and general manager of Cadence Design Foundry. "The proven silicon success with the Artisan products helps us build stronger relationships with our customers."

"We have been working with Artisan for over three years," commented KC Shih, vice chairman and chief executive officer of Global Unichip. "This new program represents a milestone in our partnership and enables us to further expand our business."

"FMC SOTA's elevation to the Gold program speaks for our experience and successful track record in using Artisan IP," said Marina Tsai, marketing director of FMC SOTA. "However, the ultimate beneficiary of our ServiceNet Gold partnership is our customer, to whom success means meeting time-to-market objectives with minimal implementation risks."

"We have participated in the ServiceNet program since 1998. This new ServiceNet Gold program expands our relationship with Artisan" said Henry Lin, senior vice president, marketing and sales at Goya. "Our mutual customers will benefit from our timely service when choosing Artisan's well-established libraries. It further enhances our goal of offering one stop turnkey service."

"PGC taped out 22 projects integrated with Artisan's technology and delivered to worldwide customers in 2002," said Charles Kuo, vice president of sales and marketing at PGC. "We believe the ServiceNet Gold Program can benefit our customers, Artisan and PGC significantly and we look forward to continuing to provide prompt and reliable service and support."

About Artisan Components
Artisan Components, Inc. is a leading provider of physical intellectual property (IP) components for the design and manufacture of complex system-on-a-chip integrated circuits. Artisan's products include embedded memory, standard cell, input/output, analog and mixed-signal components, which are designed to achieve the best combination of performance, density, power and yield for a given manufacturing process. Artisan has licensed its IP components to over 1,000 companies involved in integrated circuit design. Artisan is headquartered in Sunnyvale, California. More information about Artisan Components, including free library access, can be found at http://www.artisan.com.

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