Synopsys, Inc. (NASDAQ: SNPS), a world leader in semiconductor design software, and Silicon Integration Initiative (Si2), a semiconductor industry consortium, today announced that ARM, Infineon Technologies, Sequence Design, Semiconductor Technology Academic Research Center (STARC), STMicroelectronics, Sun Microsystems, Synopsys, Inc., Texas Instruments Inc. and Virage Logic are the founding members of the Liberty™ standard technical advisory board (TAB). For the first two years, STMicroelectronics will serve as the TAB Vice- Chair. The first TAB meeting will be held during this year's Design Automation Conference (DAC), July 24-28, 2006, in San Francisco, CA.

The Liberty TAB, first announced in May 2006, was formed to facilitate the evolution of the open-source Liberty library format, the de-facto library modeling standard. Composite Current Source (CCS) models, the industry's first current-based models to unify timing, signal-integrity and power, are the latest additions to the Liberty standard. Given the significant industry-wide momentum behind CCS modeling technology, this Liberty TAB was created to enable representatives from the design community, electronic design automation (EDA) companies, silicon foundries, and semiconductor intellectual property (IP) companies to guide the evolution of the Liberty standard.

"We have found broad support across the semiconductor industry for the Liberty format TAB initiative," said Steve Schulz, president and CEO of the Silicon Integration Initiative. "We want to extend a warm welcome to all the members, and we look forward to working with Synopsys to make this TAB a great success."

"STMicroelectronics has been an active member of Si2 for about 10 years," said Philippe Magarshack, FTM group vice-president Central CAD & Design Solutions general manager, STMicroelectronics. "We are pleased with the high level of integrity and service provided by Si2 in its mission of fostering industry collaboration to solve pressing design problems by facilitating the establishment of open standard formats."

"ARM looks forward to the advancement of library modeling technology through working with Si2 and TAB," said Keith Clarke, vice president of Technical Marketing, ARM. "As an industry-leading provider of physical IP on advanced processes, this is a natural progression in our long-standing collaboration with Synopsys to ensure continuing evolution of the Liberty standard."

"The rapid move to smaller process geometries will continue to bring immense library modeling challenges," said Mark Saxton, manager-ASIC EDA, TI. "Cooperation between the various areas of the semiconductor design industry is crucial to addressing these challenges. We welcome the opportunity to contribute to the future evolution of the Liberty library standard through this initiative."

"Virage Logic and Synopsys have a long history of working together to help ensure mutual customers have an integrated design flow based on industry leading EDA tools and semiconductor IP," said Jim Ensell, vice president of Marketing and Business Development for Virage Logic. "Our support of this initiative and joining the TAB will help develop industry standards from an IP provider's perspective."

"The list of high profile, industry-leading companies who are collaborating within the Liberty TAB speaks volumes about the importance of this initiative to the semiconductor industry," said Antun Domic, senior vice president and general manager of Synopsys' Implementation Group. "Synopsys continues to be committed to open-source standards that foster interoperability and accelerate innovation in the electronics industry."

About Synopsys

Synopsys, Inc. is a world leader in EDA software for semiconductor design. The company delivers technology-leading semiconductor design and verification platforms and IC manufacturing software products to the global electronics market, enabling the development and production of complex systems-on-chips (SoCs). Synopsys also provides intellectual property and design services to simplify the design process and accelerate time-to-market for its customers. Synopsys is headquartered in Mountain View, California and has offices in more than 60 locations throughout North America, Europe, Japan and Asia. Visit Synopsys online at http://www.synopsys.com/.

About Si2

Si2 is an organization of industry-leading semiconductor, systems, EDA and manufacturing companies focused on improving the way integrated circuits are designed and manufactured in order to speed time-to market, reduce costs, and meet the challenges of sub-micron design. Si2 is uniquely positioned to enable collaboration through a strong implementation focus driven by its member companies. Si2 focuses on developing practical technology solutions to industry challenges. Si2 represents over 100 companies involved in all parts of the silicon supply chain throughout the world. For more information on Si2, visit: www.si2.org

Synopsys is a registered trademark of Synopsys, Inc. Liberty is a trademark of Synopsys, Inc. Any other trademarks or registered trademarks mentioned in this release are the intellectual property of their respective owners.

ARM is a registered trademark of ARM Limited. "ARM" is used to represent ARM Holdings plc; its operating company ARM Limited; and the regional subsidiaries ARM INC.; ARM KK; ARM Korea Ltd.; ARM Taiwan; ARM France SAS; ARM Consulting (Shanghai) Co. Ltd.; ARM Belgium N.V.; AXYS Design Automation Inc.; AXYS GmbH; ARM Embedded Solutions Pvt. Ltd.; and ARM Physical IP, Inc.

   Editorial Contacts:

   Sheryl Gulizia
   Synopsys, Inc.
   650-584-8635
   sgulizia@synopsys.com

   Tara Yingst
   Edelman
   650-429-2731
   Tara.yingst@edelman.com

   Bill Bayer
   Director, Marketing Communications
   Silicon Integration Initiative (Si2)
   512-342-2244x304
   bill@si2.org

SOURCE: Synopsys, Inc.

CONTACT: Sheryl Gulizia of Synopsys, Inc., +1-650-584-8635 or
sgulizia@synopsys.com; Tara Yingst of Edelman, +1-650-429-2731 or
Tara.yingst@edelman.com, for Synopsys, Inc.; or Bill Bayer, Director,
Marketing Communications, of Silicon Integration Initiative (Si2),
+1-512-342-2244, ext. 304, or bill@si2.org

Web site: http://www.synopsys.com/