Chip Express ups speed and gate count, increases memory and I/O with new 0.18 micron Advanced Gate Array family

new SoC and memory-voracious versions lead the field

Santa Clara, CA ¡V April 2003 ¡V Chip Express, the leading manufacturer of late-stage programmable Advanced Gate Array ASICs, has raised the bar again with the new 0.18 micron CX5000 family, which delivers significant increases in speed, gate count, memory and I/O. Moving to 0.18 micron geometry has allowed the company to deliver two new product lines, the System Slice which can deliver a maximum of 1775k useable gates and 2.5 Mbits of memory, and the Memory Pig which delivers up to 546k useable gates and over 4.5 Mbit of memory.

The CX5000 System Slice is designed to be the SoC Platform Array of choice, offering a range of eight options. At the low end, the 189-pad 50041 delivers 44k gates and 64k fast SRAM/ROM, plus four PLLs, two DLLs and two USB 2.0 transceivers. The largest device, the 1089-pad 51761, has 1,755 gates and a 2.568Mbit memory size, with four PLLs, 12 DLLs and four 2.5Gbps LVDS. Comments Doug Bailey, vice president of marketing with Chip Express: ¡§The move to field-proven, high-reliability 0.18 micron processing means that we are delivering more true ASIC gates than any FPGA, and more fast I/O than any gate array. With minimal NRE and dramatically-reduced mask costs, this makes the new Chip Express CX5000 family the only standard cell alternative.¡¨

¡¥The Memory Pig¡¦
For memory-loaded designs, Chip Express has configured a second CX5000 product line, known as the ¡¥Memory Pig¡¦. Available in four versions, and again including combinations of PLLs, DLLs, USB transceivers and 2.5 Gbps LVDS, ¡¥Memory Pigs¡¦ are available with between 1 and 4Mbit memory and 117k and 546k gates. Explains Bailey: ¡§Gartner research says that in 2003 the ¡¥average ASIC requires as many bits as gates¡¦. Certainly it¡¦s true that software engineers can always find use for more memory, so the ¡¥Memory Pig¡¦ should find wide acceptance.¡¨

Chip Express CX5000 Advanced Gate Array family runs at an impressive 200MHz. The architecture means that the limiting factor on speed is power consumption, not gate delay, and Bailey argues that certain areas of a chip ¡V for example constrained logic areas ¡V will run much faster. ¡§Chip Express is conservative with its performance figures¡¨, he comments. ¡§We have seen claims for speeds in the order of 700MHz or even higher. But we believe that those numbers refer only to small isolated areas, such as memory or PLL. We do not play specmanship games and the 200MHz we quote is a global core figure.

Bailey continues: ¡§By delivering this new 0.18 micron family now we are delivering on our promise to introduce two significant new technologies in two years. We are already in the process of designing a completely new architecture for a 0.13 micron introduction in 2004, which will avoid entirely the copper failure mode problems that other makers are experiencing at these small geometries.¡¨

About Chip Express
Chip Express is a leading manufacturer of late-stage programmable Advanced Gate Array ASICs (Application Specific Integrated Circuits). The company¡¦s innovative, patented technology enables the consolidation of wafer manufacture tooling, reducing time-to-market and the cost of initial production. Modular Array devices find wide use in automotive electronics, computing, communications, consumer products, industrial control, medical equipment, and military/aerospace systems. Headquartered in Santa Clara, CA, Chip Express is a privately held corporation, founded in the U.S. in 1989. A subsidiary, Chip Express (Israel) Ltd. performs Research & Development and manages European operations.
This press release contains forward-looking statements based on current information available to Chip Express Corporation as of the date hereof. These statements are based on Management's current expectations and may ultimately prove to be incorrect or false. Factors which could cause future results to differ materially from the results discussed, implied, or forecasted in the forward-looking statements include delays in scheduled product availability dates (which could result from various occurrences including development or testing difficulties, software errors, shortages in appropriately skilled engineers and project management problems); the risks inherent in the commercialization of the Company's anticipated products and services; shifts in customer or market demand for the Company's anticipated products; the impact of competitive products and pricing; and possible disruptive effects of organizational changes, including retaining key personnel and coordinating operations. Chip Express Corp. assumes no obligation to revise or update any forward-looking statements contained in this press release.

„ 2003 Chip Express Corp. All other products or service names mentioned herein are the property of their respective owners.