Actel Leverages UMC Foundry Solutions for 65nm eFlash FPGAs

Next generation Actel FPGAs to use UMC's 65nm low leakage process and embedded flash technology

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. and HSINCHU, Taiwan -- November 18, 2008 --  Actel Corporation (NASDAQ: ACTL), the leader in low-power FPGAs, and UMC (NYSE: UMC TSE:2303), a leading global semiconductor foundry, today announced that the two companies have cooperated for the production of Actel’s next generation flash-based FPGAs (field programmable gate array). The chips will be manufactured on UMC’s 65nm low leakage process, and will take advantage of the foundry’s 65nm embedded flash (eFlash) technology. Successful first-silicon demonstration of Actel’s 65nm eFlash-based FPGA has already been achieved at UMC’s 300mm Fabs.

“Actel’s unique flash-based technology has been the company’s key differentiating factor, and the reason why we have been growing rapidly in the consumer, automotive, and industrial markets,” said Dr. Esmat Hamdy, Senior Vice President of Technology and Operations at Actel Corporation. “Our innovations are squarely focused on the real needs of today’s designers: lowering power, size, and cost. Partnering with UMC for our next generation flash-based FPGAs allows us to provide even greater benefits to our customers.”

UMC’s 65nm CMOS technology is in volume production at the company’s two 300mm fabs, with yield-proven customer products from all major sectors of the semiconductor industry. UMC’s 65nm embedded flash technology is ready for customer design-in, with key modules ready and working silicon already achieved.

Joe Ko, vice president of Specialty Technology Development at UMC, commented, “We are excited that Actel is taking advantage of UMC’s 65nm low leakage CMOS and embedded flash technologies to further the competitiveness of their upcoming products. Compared to earlier products built on the 0.13-micron process node, UMC’s 65nm eFlash technology will allow Actel’s FPGAs to realize a 50% smaller cell size and a 3X speed gain to enable higher overall performance.”

About Actel

Actel is the leader in low-power and mixed-signal FPGAs, offering the most comprehensive portfolio of system and power management solutions. Power matters. Learn more at www.actel.com.

About UMC

UMC (NYSE: UMC, TSE: 2303) is a leading global semiconductor foundry that provides advanced technology and manufacturing services for applications spanning every major sector of the IC industry. UMC’s customer-driven foundry solutions allow chip designers to leverage the strength of the company’s leading-edge processes, which include production proven 65nm, 45/40nm, mixed signal/RFCMOS, and a wide range of specialty technologies. Production is supported through 10 wafer manufacturing facilities that include two advanced 300mm fabs; Fab 12A in Taiwan and Singapore-based Fab 12i are both in volume production for a variety of customer products. The company employs approximately 13,000 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.