Virtual Silicon and Hynix Semiconductor announce Embedded EEPROM/Flash technology partnership

SUNNYVALE, Calif., - April 30, 2001 -- Virtual Silicon Technology, Inc., today announced a multi-year strategic agreement with Hynix Semiconductor Inc. (formerly Hyundai Electronics Industries Co., Ltd.) to jointly develop and market products using Virtual Silicon's advanced non-volatile memory (NVM) technology, eSi-NVM[tm]. Hynix will initially deploy the technology in its high performance embedded products.

Virtual Silicon's eSi-NVM allows system-on-chip (SoC) designers to embed EEPROM and/or Flash in Hynix Semiconductor's baseline 0.25-micron CMOS logic manufacturing processes. The solution offers a low-cost and low-power embedded memory solution for many market segments such as wireless communications, portable computing, consumer electronics and industrial automation. Applications of eSi-NVM include smart cards, Bluetooth wireless systems, Wi-Fi network cards, cellular phones, programmable DACs, and security systems. Hynix Semiconductor plans to use this technology for its internally developed products and will also make it available to its foundry customers.

"Using Virtual Silicon's eSi-NVM technology with our advanced 0.25-micron process technology, Hynix Semiconductor is able to expand its current embedded product offering to higher performance, lower cost and greater embedded memory size products," said Dr. Youm Huh, senior vice president of System IC at Hynix Semiconductor. "The eSi-NVM also provides product differentiation for Hynix foundry customers."

"We are aggressively expanding our SoC IP strategy to offer a comprehensive line of embedded semiconductor technologies to customers involved in the design and manufacturing of leading edge products," said Taylor Scanlon, chief executive officer at Virtual Silicon. "Hynix Semiconductor's advanced manufacturing process and non-volatile technology experience insures that the resulting eSi-NVM silicon solution meets our customers real world requirements."

Virtual Silicon's eSi-NVM Technology

Virtual Silicon's patented NVM technology is the premier memory solution for low to medium density embedded NVM applications. The eSi-NVM is one of the lowest cost embedded non-volatile solutions in the market.

"One of the most important considerations of embedded non-volatile memory is the memory cell size," said Mike Shamshirian, marketing director at Virtual Silicon. "The eSi-NVM cell size is over 40% smaller than any EEPROM technology available today. The small cell size combined with the low number of additional masking steps offer the lowest cost embedded NVM solution in the market."

The eSi-NVM can be configured as an EEPROM block for data storage where data is altered on a byte basis and/or as a Flash block for code storage where data is altered on a sector basis on the same die. Other major features of eSi-NVM technology are ease of integration, high endurance, ultra low program/erase power consumption and long data retention.

Hynix Semiconductor Embedded NVM Products

Hynix Semiconductor is one of the premier semiconductor manufacturers with a broad range of embedded products for many applications. Hynix is planning to use eSi-NVM technology in many of its high-performance embedded products.

"Hynix's new products will utilize the eSi-NVM technology in our EEPROM and flash memory configurations, thereby providing greater application flexibility," said Mr. Jay Chae director of MCU business System IC SBU at Hynix. "The 0.25-micron eSi-NVM technology from Virtual Silicon will enable our future embedded memory solutions to demonstrate higher density, lower cost and lower power than our current embedded non-volatile products."

Hynix is planning to target high performance applications such as cellular phones, digital cameras, home networking, network security, PDAs and voice recorders. Hynix plans to introduce embedded eSi-NVM products in the first quarter of 2002.

About Hynix Semiconductor

Hynix Semiconductor Inc. (formerly Hyundai Electronics Industries Co., Ltd) of Ichon, Korea, is an industry leader in the development, sales, marketing and distribution of high-quality semiconductors (including DRAM, SRAM, Flash memory and System IC devices), telecommunications and liquid crystal displays. The Semiconductor Group of Hynix Semiconductor is one of the world's largest DRAM suppliers with 11 semiconductor manufacturing facilities worldwide and production capacity of over 300,000 wafer starts per month. In addition, Hynix Semiconductor is expanding its System IC business unit with leading technology and added deep-submicron foundry services to strategically broaden its overall semiconductor presence and achieve its goal of leading the global semiconductor market. Based in Korea, Hynix Semiconductor maintains development, manufacturing, sales and marketing facilities strategically located worldwide. Hynix America Inc. is a U.S. subsidiary of Hynix Semiconductor Inc. and headquartered at 3101 North First Street, San Jose, Calif., 95134. More information on Hynix Semiconductor and its products is available from the company's web site at www.hynix.com or www.hea.com.

About Virtual Silicon Technology

Virtual Silicon Technology is a leading supplier of embedded semiconductor technology to manufacturers and designers of complex systems-on-chip. We provide process-intensive embedded components including standard cell libraries, I/Os, SRAM compilers, PLL compilers and embedded EEPROM/Flash solutions. The company provides application-specific, process-specific and foundry-portable versions of its Silicon Ready libraries and hard IP to semiconductor manufacturers and foundries, ASSP designers, and systems developers who demand the highest quality, maximum performance and optimum densities for their semiconductor innovations. For more information on Virtual Silicon Technology and its products, please direct customer inquiries to Mike Shamshirian at (408) 548-2727, email address mikes@virtual-silicon.com or go to www.virtual-silicon.com