SAN JOSE, Calif., Aug. 5, 2010 – Magma® Design Automation Inc. (Nasdaq: LAVA), a provider of chip design software, announced today that TSMC used Quartz™ DRC for physical verification of its 28-nanometer (nm) product qualification vehicle (PQV) test chip. PQVs are representative of design data customers will use in production designs. By designing and manufacturing the PQV test chip, TSMC offers its customers greater confidence in achieving silicon success in its 28-nm processes.

TSMC selected Quartz DRC because it provides the turnaround time and capacity needed for 28-nm designs while meeting TSMC’s rigorous accuracy requirements. Quartz DRC efficiently handled the test chip’s massive volume of data. Quartz DRC provided sign-off accuracy on the design which contained blocks routed by Magma’s Talus® digital implementation platform.

“At 28 nm and below, design rule complexity explodes,” said Anirudh Devgan, general manager of Magma’s Custom Design Business Unit. “TSMC’s decision to use Magma’s physical verification software on this PQV is an important milestone validating Quartz DRC’s capacity and speed for leading-edge technologies.”

“TSMC maintains its market and technology leadership by being first to develop and validate the most advanced process technologies,” said S.T. Juang, senior director of Design Infrastructure Marketing at TSMC. “Quartz DRC’s turnaround time and ability to handle large amounts of data has allowed us to validate our 28-nm process quickly, allowing our customers to start using the process sooner.”

Quartz DRC and Quartz LVS: Fastest Fully Scalable Physical Verification

Magma’s Quartz DRC and Quartz LVS products are architected to process integrated circuit (IC) designs of any size, at any technology node, in the least amount of time. Magma’s is the first truly scalable physical verification solution, able to provide turnaround time that is up to an order of magnitude faster than existing solutions while using existing compute resources. The Quartz tools are fully compatible with third-party IC implementation flows and can read file formats used by traditional physical verification tools. 

About Magma

Magma’s electronic design automation (EDA) software is used to create complex, high-performance integrated circuits (ICs) for cellular telephones, electronic games, WiFi, MP3 players, DVD/digital video, networking, automotive electronics and other electronic applications. Magma products for IC implementation, analog/mixed-signal design, analysis, physical verification, circuit simulation and characterization are recognized as embodying the best in semiconductor technology, providing the world’s top chip companies the “Fastest Path to Silicon.”™ Magma maintains headquarters in San Jose, Calif., and offices throughout North America, Europe, Japan, Asia and India. Magma’s stock trades on Nasdaq under the ticker symbol LAVA. Visit Magma Design Automation on the Web at www.magma-da.com.

TAIPEI, TAIWAN, August 4, 2010 – VIA Technologies, Inc, a leading innovator and developer of embedded silicon and platform technologies, today announced the addition of the VIA COME8X80 module to its COM Express™ portfolio; the world’s first COM Express type product to take advantage of the high performance, 64-bit VIA Nano E-Series processor.

“The VIA COME8X80 module harnesses the power of VIA Nano platform to offer a uniquely integrated and performance-optimized COM Express product,” said Daniel Wu, Vice President, VIA Embedded Platform Division, VIA Technologies, Inc. “The VIA COME8X80 also demonstrates our long-term commitment to bringing our leading processor technologies to the COM Express form factor.”

The VIA COME8X80 is targeted at IPC and larger OEM customers in a range of embedded segments including gaming, healthcare and industrial automation. Customers can also take advantage of a specially developed mutli-I/O baseboard for evaluation purposes, as well as VIA’s technical assistance in developing custom baseboard designs.

VIA COME8X80: Optimized Performance and Assured Longevity

The VIA COME8X80 is available with a choice of either 1.3+GHz or 800MHz VIA Nano E-Series processors, combining native 64-bit and virtualization support with a high-performance superscalar architecture in a uniquely low power thermal envelope. 

The VIA COME8X80 also integrates the unified VIA VX800 media system processor, bringing VIA Chrome9 integrated graphics, support for VGA and dual channel LVDS displays, video acceleration for  MPEG-2, MPEG-4, WMV9 and VC1 video formats, plus a VMR capable HD video processor. All VIA components have a guaranteed longevity of seven years.

Product Highlights:

• High performance, 64-bit VIA Nano E-Series processor
• 18/24-bit dual channel LVDS plus VGA support
• 3 PCI, and one x4 plus two x1 PCIe slots
• Up to 2GB of DDR2 SO-DIMM memory
• 10/100Mbps Fast Ethernet
• Up to six USB 2.0 ports
• Up to two SATA devices plus 1 IDE

The VIA COME8X80 is available to OEM and ODM customers now. For more details including a technical data sheet, please go to: http://www.via.com.tw/en/products/embedded/ProductDetail.jsp?productLine=1&id=1271&tabs=1

An image kit related to this product announcement is available here: http://www.viagallery.com/index.php?option=com_flickr4j&Task=sets&Set=72157624643775464&Page=1

About the COM Express Form Factor
Measuring 95mm x 125 mm, COM Express is an industry standard embedded form factor developed by the PICMG (PCI Industrial Computer Manufacturers Group) to provide greater connectivity and data transfer bandwidth than the original COM (Computer-on-Module) standard. The COM Express specification integrates core CPU, chipset and memory on the module, providing support for extensive connectivity options, including USB, audio, video, and Ethernet, through board-to-board connectors to an I/O baseboard.

VIA Nano E-Series Processors

VIA Nano E-Series processors are aimed specifically at the needs of the broader embedded industry, bringing technologies that will help revitalize embedded device design and power the next wave of embedded design innovation. Built on the successful 64-bit, superscalar architecture that powers the VIA Nano 3000 Series processor range, VIA Nano E-Series processors include extended longevity support of up to seven years and offer the most complete, low power microprocessor design in the industry today.

For further information about the VIA Nano processor family and the VIA Nano E-Series, please go to: http://www.via.com.tw/en/products/processors/nano/index.jsp#e_series 

About VIA Technologies, Inc.

VIA Technologies, Inc is the foremost fabless supplier of power efficient x86 processor platforms that are driving system innovation in the PC, client, ultra mobile and embedded markets. Combining energy-saving processors with digital media chipsets and advanced connectivity, multimedia and networking silicon enables a broad spectrum of computing and communication platforms, including its widely acclaimed ultra compact mainboards. Headquartered in Taipei, Taiwan, VIA’s global network links the high tech centers of the US, Europe and Asia, and its customer base includes the world’s top OEMs and system integrators. www.via.com.tw