Press Release

Kawasaki Microelectronics Adopts Apache’s SoC Power Closure Design Flow

Mountain View, Calif. – October 12, 2005 – Apache Design Solutions, the technology leader in physical power integrity solutions for system-on-chip (SoC) designs, today announced that Kawasaki Microelectronics, Inc. will use Apache’s RedHawk full-chip dynamic power solution in the design flow for ASIC designs at 130nm and below. Kawasaki selected RedHawk for its silicon-proven dynamic analysis of the power/ground network behavior and its ability to identify the impact of noise on timing and yield.

“As we move beyond 130nm process nodes, we need to support a design closure flow including dynamic power behavior prior to tapeout,” said Yoshi to Muraishi, Director of CAD Development of Kawasaki Microelectronics. “After detailed evaluation, we selected Apache’s RedHawk because we were able to detect the dynamic hot spots and utilize the accurate power supply noise waveforms for timing impact analysis.”

“Power integrity has become one of the key contributors to higher production cost and lower manufacturing yield, and our customers are looking for a solution that can address this problem,” stated Andrew Yang, CEO of Apache. “We are very pleased that Kawasaki joins our growing list of leading semiconductor companies worldwide in addressing the critical power closure requirements for advanced nanometer designs.”

About RedHawk

RedHawk is a full-chip vectorless dynamic physical power integrity solution for SoC power closure sign-off of 130nm, 90nm, and 65nm designs. Certified in TSMC’s 5.0 and 6.0 Reference Flow and correlated with silicon measurements and SPICE, RedHawk addresses dynamic power issues such as simultaneous switching output (SSO) for core, memory, clock, and I/O, as well as the effects of on-chip inductance, package RLC , and decoupling capacitance.

RedHawk enables designers to identify dynamic “hot spots,” examine the impact on timing, accurately pinpoint the cause of dynamic voltage drop, and automatically repair the source of supply noise. With RedHawk’s integrated transistor-level characterization and unsurpassed capacity, designers can effectively reach power closure sign-off for high performance SoCs, including those utilizing advanced low-power design techniques such as leakage current control, power gating, multiple voltage domains, and multiple threshold transistors.

About Apache Design Solutions

Apache is an EDA software supplier of innovative next-generation silicon integrity platforms for low-power, high-performance system-on-a-chip (SoC) designs. By considering all sources of noise that impacts the design, such as power, signal, package / system IO, substrate, and temperature, Apache’s silicon signoff platform enables designers of leading networking, wireless, communication, consumer, and semiconductor companies to detect, fix, and prevent design weaknesses that can result in reduced yield or failed silicon. Apache’s vendor neutral platform enables designers to adopt any industry’s standard physical design flow and is certified by TSMC’s 5.0 and 6.0 Reference Flow (NYSE: TSM). Apache has direct sales and support offices worldwide with over 40 customers, including 7 of the top 10 semiconductor companies.

About Kawasaki Microelectronics

Kawasaki Microelectronics is a leader in advanced yet affordable ASIC technology. The company’s innovative technologies and world-class design support are used in the consumer electronics, computer, office-automation, networking and storage markets. The company is an active participant in industry standards organizations, including the Wi-Fi Alliance, Optical Internetworking Forum (OIF), PCI Special Interest Group (PCI-SIG), USB Implementers Forum, MPEG Industry Forum (MPEGIF), Mobile Computing Promotion Consortium (MCPC), the Digital Display Working Group (DDWG), SD Card Association (SDA) and OCP International Partnership (OCP-IP). Kawasaki Microelectronics has design centers in Tokyo , Boston, San Jose, and Taipei. For more information, visit http://www.k-micro.com/.

Apache Design Solutions, NSPICE, RedHawk, PsiWinder, and Vectorless Dynamic are trademarks of Apache Design Solutions, Inc.

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