SIS Microelectronics Chosen to Provide OakDSPCore® Support for TSMCs Customers

Longmont, CO - October 18, 1999 - SIS Microelectronics, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Aspec Technology (NASDAQ: ASPC), is a leading independent IP provider and system-on-chip (SOC) design resource. The company announced an agreement with Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) today, establishing SIS Microelectronics as the preferred company to provide porting and customer support for the OakDSPCore. TSMC licenses the OakDSPCore from the DSP Group of Israel.

Under the agreement, SIS will supply its 0.25-micron and 0.18-micron implementations of the OakDSPCore to TSMC foundry customers. The agreement further calls for SIS to provide support directly to TSMC customers wishing to include OakDSPCore technology in their designs. SIS will offer timing accurate HDL models of the core, as well as phantom physical blocks for use during layout. Upon completion of verification, SIS will instantiate the core and release the designs to TSMC.

The OakDSPCore is a 16-bit, general purpose, high-speed DSP core designed for speech and audio processing, telecommunications, digital-cellular and embedded-control applications. The low-power, low-voltage product is the DSP Group’s second generation DSP core.

"SIS has had a long relationship with the DSP Group and its technology licensees," said Bill Burkard, president of SIS Microelectronics. "The agreement with TSMC allows us to support TSMC’s customers with state-of-the-art DSP implementations for SOC designs."

"TSMC recognizes the value of third-party relationships in support of high-level IP," said Roger Fisher Sr., director of marketing at TSMC. "This agreement will allow our customers to directly leverage SIS’s expertise in developing and implementing DSP Group’s cores."

Availability

Design kits for the OakDSPCore are available today directly from SIS. To receive additional information, customers can contact SIS directly via telephone (516) 989-3213; email info@sismicro.com or the web at http://www.sismicro.com.

About SIS Microelectronics, Inc.

Founded in 1982, SIS delivers highly integrated silicon solutions combining SIS's extensive experience in chip design and implementation with proprietary and partner Intellectual Property. SIS offers OEMs one stop shopping for the varied mix of IC technology, IP, and design expertise needed for timely, cost effective solutions essential for success in today's competitive markets. SIS is a wholly owned subsidiary of Aspec Technology (NASDAQ :ASPC) based in Sunnyvale, California. SIS is located at 1831 Lefthand Circle #E, Longmont, Colorado 80501. For additional information visit web site http://www.sismico.com.

About DSP Group

DSP Group, Inc. (NASDAQ: DSPG) is a leader in the development and marketing of high-performance, cost effective digital signal processing cores used in a wide range of applications for industries such as wireless communications, telephony and personal computing. By combining its DSP core technology with its advanced speech processing algorithms, DSP Group also delivers a wide range of enabling application-specific DSPs. DSP Group is located in Israel. For more information, visit DSP Group’s web site at http://www.dspg.com.

About TSMC

TSMC (ADS traded NYSE: TSM, also traded on TSE) is the world's largest dedicated integrated circuit (IC) foundry and offers a comprehensive set of IC fabrication processes, including processes to manufacture CMOS logic, mixed-mode, volatile and non-volatile memory and BiCMOS chips. Currently, TSMC operates two six-inch wafer fabs (Fab 1 and 2) and three eight-inch wafer fabs (Fab 3, 4, and 5) all located in Hsin-Chu, Taiwan.

In mid-1998, TSMC announced that production wafers were being delivered from its first U.S. foundry, WaferTech, a joint venture with Altera, Analog Devices and Integrated Silicon Solutions, Inc. The company has broken ground in the new Tainan Park, which will house Fabs 6 and 7 and recently announced its participation in a $1.2 billion joint venture fab with Philips Semiconductor which is scheduled to open in Singapore in 2000. TSMC's corporate headquarters are in Taiwan. More information about TSMC is available through the World Wide Web at http://www.tsmc.com.tw.

OakDSPCore is a registered trademark of DSP Group, Inc.