Cypress and UMC Deliver ICs on New 65-Nanometer SONOS Embedded Flash Technology

SAN JOSE, Calif. and HSINCHU, Taiwan, July 27, 2011 /PRNewswire-Asia/ -- Cypress Semiconductor Corp. (Nasdaq: CY) and United Microelectronics Corporation (NYSE: UMC; TWSE: 2303) ("UMC"), a leading global semiconductor foundry, today announced that they have produced working silicon on a new, 65-nanometer SONOS (Silicon Oxide Nitride Oxide Silicon) technology for embedded Flash memory. UMC will manufacture next-generation PSoC® programmable system-on-chip products for Cypress on the new process, along with nvSRAMs and other products. UMC will also make this technology available to other companies under a licensing agreement with Cypress.

The new S65™ process is a 65-nanometer SONOS embedded nonvolatile memory (NVM) technology.  It is now successfully integrated into UMC's standard LL65 process. Existing or new designs using the LL65 process can now easily add embedded Flash memory with fast time-to-market, low development cost, and minimum design disturbance to other IPs. The S65 offers major advantages including high endurance, low power, and resistance to soft errors. It only requires three additional mask layers to a standard CMOS process, as compared to 7-12 additional masks for other embedded FLASH technology approaches. It also offers intrinsically high yields and low test costs. Using Cypress products as a reference, the new process is expected to provide a 75 percent reduction in array size and 50 percent power reduction compared to products manufactured on the current 130-nanometer S8™ process.

"We're excited to team with a world leader in semiconductor manufacturing to bring this outstanding technology to market," said Shahin Sharifzadeh, executive vice president of worldwide Manufacturing and Operation for Cypress. "Our product lines are eager to introduce new, high-performance products on S65, and we look forward to working with UMC to license the technology to their large customer base around the world."

"As a customer driven foundry, UMC is continuously introducing enhanced process offerings for its customers," said P W Yen, Sr. Vice President from UMC. "Today, Embedded NVM is a key feature in many IC designs. UMC has delivered a very valuable technology solution to meet customer needs through the successful S65 integration and its full compatibility with the LL65 foundry process. We look forward to ramping this process to production for Cypress and other UMC customers."

The UMC S65™ process is scheduled for availability to foundry customers in Q3, 2011.

About UMC

UMC (NYSE: UMC, TWSE: 2303) is a leading global semiconductor foundry that provides advanced technology and manufacturing services for applications spanning every major sector of the IC industry. UMC's customer-driven foundry solutions allow chip designers to leverage the strength of the company's leading-edge processes, which include production proven 65nm, 45/40nm, 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 over 13,000 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.

About Cypress

Cypress delivers high-performance, mixed-signal, programmable solutions that provide customers with rapid time-to-market and exceptional system value. Cypress offerings include the flagship PSoC® programmable system-on-chip families and derivatives such as PowerPSoC® solutions for high-voltage and LED lighting applications, CapSense® touch sensing and TrueTouch™ solutions for touchscreens. Cypress is the world leader in USB controllers, including the high-performance West Bridge® solution that enhances connectivity and performance in multimedia handsets. Cypress is also a leader in high-performance memories and programmable timing devices. Cypress serves numerous markets including consumer, mobile handsets, computation, data communications, automotive, industrial and military. Cypress trades on the Nasdaq Global Select Market under the ticker symbol CY. Visit Cypress online at www.cypress.com.

Note from UMC Concerning Forward-Looking Statements

Some of the statements in the foregoing announcement are forward looking within the meaning of the U.S. Federal Securities laws, including statements about future outsourcing, wafer capacity, technologies, business relationships and market conditions. Investors are cautioned that actual events and results could differ materially from these statements as a result of a variety of factors, including conditions in the overall semiconductor market and economy; acceptance and demand for products from UMC; and technological and development risks.

Cypress, the Cypress logo, PSoC, PowerPSoC, CapSense and West Bridge are registered trademarks and TrueTouch, S65 and S8 are trademarks of Cypress Semiconductor Corp. All other trademarks are property of their owners.

Contacts:

Don Parkman
Cypress Public Relations
+1-408-943-4885
[email protected]

Richard Yu
UMC Corporate Communications
+886-2-2658-9168 ext. 16951
[email protected]

SOURCE United Microelectronics Corporation; Cypress Semiconductor Corp.