MIPS Technologies and UMC Announce Licensing and Co-Marketing Agreement

Next-Generation, Highest Performance, 64-Bit MIPS® Core Will Utilize UMC’s Advanced 90nm Process Technology

HSINCHU, TAIWAN and MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif., June 3, 2002 -- MIPS Technologies, Inc. (Nasdaq: MIPS, MIPSB), a leading provider of industry-standard processor architectures and cores for digital consumer and business applications, and UMC (NYSE: UMC), a leading semiconductor foundry, today announced a licensing and co-marketing agreement for MIPS Technologies’ highest performance, 64-bit processor cores, the MIPS64™ 20Kc™ core and the company’s next-generation core, code-named “Amethyst.” UMC is the first foundry to acquire a license for the “Amethyst” core, which will be ported to the company’s 90nm silicon process. The award-winning MIPS64 20Kc™ core, currently the industry’s highest performance licensable core, will be ported to UMC’s 0.13-micron process.

Applications for the 64-bit microprocessor cores include networking, multimedia, automotive telematics and office automation. The “Amethyst” and 20Kc cores provide customers with the highest available performance in licensable intellectual property (IP) along with the low-power characteristics and low overall system cost required by embedded applications. In addition, the MIPS® 32- and 64-bit architectures are fully compatible. This enables customers with 32-bit MIPS-based™ products to seamlessly transition to these new 64-bit cores and preserve all of their software investment.

“UMC is committed to offering the industry’s broadest portfolio of IP cores to customers. By aligning with MIPS Technologies, we can provide 64-bit processor cores that many designers are seeking to integrate into next-generation SOC designs,” said Dr. C.T. Lee, vice president of corporate marketing at UMC. “As MIPS Technologies is developing high performance, robust IP cores, we are enthusiastic to have this new licensing and co-marketing agreement in place.”

“Designers of sophisticated SOCs who want to significantly reduce time to market will find an ideal solution in industry-standard MIPS 64-bit hard cores. The 20Kc and ‘Amethyst’ cores in UMC’s leading-edge processes offer a level of performance and ease of integration that allow customers to tackle increasingly demanding functionality and develop superior, highly competitive solutions,” said Kevin Meyer, vice president of marketing at MIPS Technologies. “We are pleased that UMC will be the first foundry to offer a 90nm process-optimized version of the premier product in our roadmap, the ‘Amethyst’ core, which will provide its customers with exceptional cost, power and performance benefits.”

About MIPS Technologies’ 20Kc core
The 20Kc core recently received Microprocessor Report’s Analysts’ Choice Award for Best High-Performance Processor Core for 2001. It features a dual-issue, superscalar, 7-stage pipeline and offers integer and floating-point performance that are unprecedented for a licensable core. Its 64-bit dual-issue integer capability and double-precision IEEE-754 floating-point unit (FPU) allow the core to achieve a performance of 1020 Dhrystone 2.1 MIPS (without inlining) and peak 2.4 Gflops at 600 MHz. SIMD (single-instruction, multiple data) instructions in the FPU greatly accelerate the processing of large data streams, eliminating the need for a separate DSP and thereby lowering the cost of the end product.

About MIPS Technologies
MIPS Technologies, Inc. is a leading provider of industry-standard processor architectures and cores for digital consumer and business applications. The company drives the broadest architectural alliance that is delivering 32- and 64-bit embedded RISC solutions. The company licenses its intellectual property to semiconductor companies, ASIC developers and system OEMs. MIPS Technologies and its licensees offer the widest range of robust, scalable processors in standard, custom, semi-custom and application-specific products. The company is based in Mountain View, Calif., and can be reached at +1 (650) 567-5000 or www.mips.com.

About UMC
UMC (NYSE: UMC, TSE: 2303) is a world-leading semiconductor foundry that manufactures advanced process ICs for applications spanning every major sector of the semiconductor industry. UMC delivers the cutting-edge foundry technologies that enable sophisticated system-on-chip (SOC) designs, including 130nm 0.13um copper/low k, embedded DRAM, and mixed signal/RFCMOS. In addition, UMC is a leader in 300mm manufacturing with three strategically located 300mm fabs to serve our global customer base: Fab 12A in Taiwan, UMCi in Singapore (completion in 2002), and AU Pte. Ltd., a joint venture facility with AMD also located in Singapore (production in 2005). UMC employs over 8,500 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.
 
 
 

 MIPS is a registered trademark in the United States and other countries, and MIPS64, 20Kc and MIPS-based are trademarks of MIPS Technologies, Inc. All other trademarks referred to herein are the property of their respective owners.
 

NOTE CONCERNING FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS
Some of the statements in the foregoing announcement are forward looking within the meaning of the U.S. Federal Securities laws, including statements about future outsourcing, wafer capacity, technologies, business relationships and market conditions. Investors are cautioned that actual events and results could differ materially from these statements as a result of a variety of factors, including conditions in the overall semiconductor market and economy, acceptance and demand for products, and technological and development risks.