Market Rapidly Embraces Tensilica's Diamond Standard Processor Cores in 2Q06

Strong Licensing Activity Shows Company’s Continued Growth in Controller and DSP Market Segments

SANTA CLARA, CA, – July 18, 2006 – Tensilica, Inc. today announced that market acceptance of its new Diamond Standard processor family exceeded the company’s expectations in the first quarter since these processor cores were introduced. As of the end of the second quarter of 2006, the company had licensed 12 Diamond Standard series cores. This number included 10 new customers who had not previously used Tensilica’s processor products. In most of these designs, the Diamond Standard processors are used as the main SOC (system-on-chip) controller or main DSP (digital signal processing) engine.

Availability of the Diamond Standard series in March 2006 expanded the company’s reach to new customers that are complementary to Tensilica’s existing Xtensa configurable processor business, which was also strong in the quarter. While the company’s Xtensa configurable processors can also be used as controllers, they’ve been more widely used for much more complex and demanding tasks that are usually implemented in non-programmable logic blocks. These complex functions include audio and video processing, laser and inkjet print processing, camera image processing, digital television image processing, network packet processing, storage networking, wireless communications processing and voice over IP processing.

“For the customer who just wants a drop-in solution for fast deployment late in the design cycle, the Diamond Standard processors hit the market’s sweet spots,” stated Chris Rowen, Tensilica’s president and CEO. “The typical processor customer wants standard control or DSP functions in the smallest, most power-efficient form factor – and that’s what we have to offer. We’re particularly pleased that our Diamond Standard processor family opened up doors at new customer sites, expanding our reach in the SOC design community.”

About Tensilica’s Diamond Standard Processors

Tensilica’s Diamond Standard Series processor family consists of six off-the-shelf, synthesizable cores that range from area-efficient, low-power controllers to the industry’s highest performance licensable DSP and most popular audio processor. The Diamond Standard family covers the broadest range of performance of any embedded computing architecture. The Diamond Standard processor family is based on Tensilica’s highly efficient Xtensa configurable and extensible processor architecture, proven in hundreds of SOC designs. Therefore, it’s easy for designers to bridge to Tensilica’s Xtensa processor product line if additional customization is required. The Diamond Standard processors are supported by an optimized set of Diamond Standard software tools and a wide range of industry infrastructure partners.

About Tensilica

Tensilica offers the broadest line of controller, CPU and specialty DSP processors on the market today, in both an off-the-shelf format via the Diamond Standard Series cores and with full designer configurability with the Xtensa processor family. Tensilica’s low-power, benchmark proven processors have been designed into high-volume products at industry leaders in the digital consumer, networking and telecommunications markets. All Tensilica processor cores are complete with a matching software development tool environment, portfolio of system simulation models, and hardware implementation tool support. For more information on Tensilica's patented approach to the creation of application-specific building blocks for SOC design, visit www.tensilica.com.