UMC Low-power Process Helps Actel Put Freeze on IGLOO Competition

New 5 uW FPGA Family Leverages UMC's Embedded Flash and Low-power Processes to Reduce Power Consumption

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. and HSINCHU, Taiwan -- Oct. 9, 2006 -- Actel Corporation (Nasdaq: ACTL) and UMC (NYSE: UMC; TSE: 2303), a leading global semiconductor foundry, today announced that the two companies have partnered to produce the Actel IGLOO(TM) family, the industry's lowest power field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs). UMC's leading-edge 0.13-micron low-power and e-Flash processes combined with Actel's IGLOO power mode options and Flash*Freeze(TM) technology enable power consumption as low as 5 uW, a new standard for the industry.

Dr. Esmat Hamdy, senior vice president of technology and operations and Actel company founder commented, "In August, we introduced IGLOO, a game- changing device for the portable marketplace with 4x less static power consumption than its nearest competitor and battery life conservation 5x longer than the current leading PLDs in portable applications. As we planned the product rollout, it was paramount that we selected a foundry partner with a proven low-power flash process technology that complemented the inherent low-power benefits of our reprogrammable ProASIC3 FPGA architecture. As a technology leader in the industry, UMC was the right fit for our unique product requirements."

Dr. Fu Tai Liou, president of the America Business Group at UMC, noted, "Actel is a world leader in providing single-chip FPGA solutions. Their decision to work with UMC as their primary foundry for the IGLOO family demonstrates the strong reputation of UMC's process technology for the development of low-power SoCs for portable applications."

About Actel's IGLOO Product Family

The Actel IGLOO family features up to three million system gates and builds upon the characteristics of Actel's successful ProASIC3 flash FPGAs, such as live-at-power-up and secure AES-based in-system programmability. The only low-power FPGA solution to support 1.2V, the Actel IGLOO family has several power modes to optimize power consumption -- the Flash*Freeze mode, a low-power active mode and a sleep mode. The Actel IGLOO family offers up to 616 user I/Os, six phase-locked loops (PLLs), 504kbits of RAM and 350MHz performance in both commercial and industrial grades.

About Actel

Actel Corporation is the leader in single-chip FPGA solutions. The Company is traded on the NASDAQ National Market under the symbol ACTL and is headquartered at 2061 Stierlin Court, Mountain View, Calif., 94043-4655. For more information about Actel, visit http://www.actel.com . Telephone: 888-99-ACTEL (992-2835).

About UMC

UMC (NYSE: UMC; TSE: 2303) is a leading global semiconductor foundry that manufactures advanced system-on-chip (SoC) designs for applications spanning every major sector of the IC industry. UMC's SoC Solution Foundry strategy is based on the strength of the company's advanced technologies, which include production proven 90nm, 65nm, 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 12,000 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 .