Synopsys, Inc. (NASDAQ: SNPS), the world leader in semiconductor design software, today announced that IPCore Technologies Corporation, China's pioneer pure design foundry, has signed a multi-million dollar agreement to adopt Synopsys' Galaxy™ Design and Discovery™ Verification Platforms, and extensive DesignWare® intellectual property (IP) portfolio as IPCore's primary internal design flow. The tools adopted from the Galaxy Design Platform include Physical Compiler®, PrimeTime® SI, DFT Compiler™, TetraMAX®, Power Compiler™, Jupiter™ XT, Astro™, Star-RCXT™ and Hercules™. The tools adopted from the Discovery Verification Platform include VCS®, Formality®, ESP-CV, NanoSim®, HSPICE®, Cosmos™, as well as IP modeling and packaging tools VMC™ and coreBuilder. Under the terms of the agreement, Synopsys Professional Services will also expand its delivery capability in China by selectively utilizing IPCore on a subcontracting basis.

The two companies worked closely together to develop comprehensive deep sub-micron design flows for silicon processes starting from 130 nanometers and below. The complete RTL-to-GDSII solution will enable IPCore to give its customers a complete, low-risk path to implementation and verification, backed by Synopsys' extensive DesignWare IP portfolio and Synopsys Professional Services.

"We chose Synopsys' tools, IP and design services in order to give our customers a comprehensive, silicon-proven, front-to-back design flow," said Jerry Lee, CEO of IPCore Technologies Corporation. "Synopsys' solutions have been successfully used for thousands of designs worldwide. This expertise is especially important as we move into the complex realm of deep submicron design."

"By working closely with a quality design foundry like IPCore Technologies, we will be able to play an increasingly important role in the development of the IC industry in China," said Chi-Foon Chan, president and chief operating officer at Synopsys. "We look forward to a long and rewarding partnership that will give IPCore and its customers a reliable path to silicon success."

About Galaxy Design Platform

The Galaxy Design Platform is an open, integrated design implementation platform with best-in-class tools and IP, enabling advanced semiconductor design. Anchored by Synopsys' industry-leading semiconductor implementation tools and the open Milkyway™ database, the Galaxy Design Platform incorporates consistent timing, signal integrity (SI) analysis, common libraries, delay calculation, constraints, testability, and physical verification from RTL all the way to silicon. The Galaxy Design Platform helps reduce design time, decreases integration costs and minimizes the risks inherent in advanced, complex semiconductor design.

About Discovery Verification Platform

The Discovery Verification Platform is a unified environment that provides high performance and efficiency of interaction among all platform components, including mixed-HDL simulation, mixed-signal, system-level verification, assertions, verification intellectual property, code coverage, functional coverage, testbenches and formal analysis. Combined with SystemVerilog and Synopsys' design-for-verification methodology, the Discovery Verification Platform helps designers achieve higher levels of verification productivity by contributing to first-time silicon success within required project schedules.

About DesignWare IP

Synopsys' industry leading, high-quality DesignWare IP enables designers to create and verify innovative, cost-effective SoCs, ASICs and FPGAs. The broad portfolio includes industry leading connectivity IP Cores and Verification IP (e.g., USB 1.1, USB 2.0, USB 2.0 PHY, USB 2.0 On-The-Go Host, USB 2.0 On-The-Go PHY, PCI, PCI-X, PCI Express, PCI Express PHY, Ethernet, I2C), AMBA™ on-chip bus (logic, peripherals, verification IP), complete memory solutions (e.g., memory controllers, BIST and models), high-speed datapath components, microcontrollers (8051, 6811) and Star IP processors and DSP cores (e.g., IBM PowerPC® 440, Infineon C166™S and TriCore™1, MIPS32™ 4KE™, NEC V850E™, Philips CoolFlux™ DSP). When combined with Synopsys' robust IP development methodology, extensive investment in quality and comprehensive worldwide technical support, DesignWare IP gives designers a fast, predictable and low-risk path to chip success. For a complete directory of Synopsys IP visit: www.synopsys.com/ipdirectory. For more information on DesignWare IP visit: www.designware.com or call 1-877-4BEST-IP.

About Synopsys Professional Services

Synopsys Professional Services is dedicated to helping chip developers achieve success in their design programs. Our design consultants help customers maximize their productivity with Synopsys tools and platforms, upgrade their design flows to the latest methodologies, and optimize their chip implementations. Synopsys design consultants complement our customers' core competencies to mitigate project risks and achieve an accelerated tapeout.

About Synopsys

Synopsys, Inc. is the world leader in electronic design automation (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 IPCore

IPCore Technologies is a Cayman Islands registered company with offices in Silicon Valley, U.S.A., Tokyo and Shanghai, China. It is the first Pure Design Foundry Company in China to provide One-Stop-Silicon-Solution to domestic and international IC product companies. Founded in 2001 with headquarters in Shanghai's CaoHeJing Hi-Tech Park, IPCore has strong partnerships with various wafer foundries, testing and packaging houses and global tier-one IC companies. IPCore's investor base is composed of a notable consortium of international venture capital firms including Walden International, Pacific Venture Group, 3i, Vertex, Sycamore Ventures and Pan- Pacific Venture. Please visit: http://ipcoreinc.com/ .

NOTE: Synopsys and DesignWare, Formality, HSPICE, NanoSim, Physical Compiler, PrimeTime, TetraMAX and VCS are registered trademarks of Synopsys, Inc. Astro, Cosmos, DFT Compiler, Discovery, Galaxy, Hercules, JupiterXT, Milkyway, Power Compiler, Star-RCXT and VMC are trademarks of Synopsys. All other trademarks or registered trademarks mentioned in this release are the intellectual property of their respective owners.

SOURCE: Synopsys, Inc.

CONTACT: Robert Smith of Synopsys, Inc., +1-650-584-1261, or
rsmith@synopsys.com; or Sarah Seifert of Edelman, +1-650-429-2776, or
sarah.seifert@edelman.com, for Synopsys

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