Alchemy Semiconductor And Xilinx Coolrunner CPLDs Advance Low Power Internet Edge Device Development

Alliance decreases development time and lowers cost for high performance, low power applications

SAN JOSE, Calif. -- 10/9/2001 -- Xilinx, Inc., (NASDAQ:XLNX) and Alchemy Semiconductor Inc.® today announced that Alchemy will use the Xilinx® CoolRunner® CPLD in its Pb1500 Evaluation Platform, and its Mobile Client Device (MCD) reference design. The use of the CoolRunner CPLD on the Pb1500 and MCD gives designers using the Alchemy boards the flexibility to make design changes without removing the device. The combination increases the availability of highly integrated and quality tools for applications developers requiring high performance and low power. It also decreases product time to market, thus containing development and design costs.

The CoolRunner CPLD combines very low power with high speed, high density, and high I/O counts in a single device. The Alchemy Pb1500 is the evaluation platform for Alchemy's Au1500™ processor. The Au1500 employs a MIPS32™-based SOC with highly integrated on-chip memory controllers and Internet access peripherals, while adding a 66 MHz PCI 2.2 controller, making it ideally suited for use with systems using PCI cards and devices. The Alchemy MCD reference design is a high performance, low power handheld mobile platform providing personal information management (PIM), wireless Internet connectivity, and a variety of multimedia features in a compact form factors.

"Alchemy Semiconductor emphasizes high performance and low power SOC solutions for the Internet Edge Device market," said Phil Pompa, vice president of marketing at Alchemy. "Any logic device incorporated into our evaluation platform and reference design needed to meet the exceptional power and performance standards we have set. The low power reputation of Xilinx products, reprogrammability, and our past experience with both their products and their top quality design support, made the CoolRunner CPLDs an excellent fit with our products."

"Alchemy's application of our low-power CPLDs is a prime example of Xilinx at work in enabling bleeding-edge technology," said Evert Wolsheimer, vice president and general manager of the CPLD division at Xilinx. "CoolRunner devices combine the time-saving advantages of a PLD with price points competitive to an ASIC."

About CoolRunner CPLDs
CoolRunner CPLDs are the first to combine very low power with high speed, high density, and high I/O counts in a single device. CoolRunner CPLDs feature Fast Zero Power™ technology, allowing the devices to draw virtually no power in standby mode, making them ideal for the fast growing market for battery operated portable electronic equipment. For more information on CoolRunner CPLDs in portable applications, visit the Xilinx website at www.xilinx.com/cpldsolutions/.

About Alchemy Semiconductor
Founded in Austin, Texas, in 1999, Alchemy Semiconductor is a fabless semiconductor company that designs, develops and markets high performance, yet very low power systems-on-a-chip (SOCs) for the Internet Edge Device market. These devices include both wireless hand-held enterprise PDAs and remote Internet access products, as well as Internet infrastructure products, such as routers and line cards. The company's founding team includes world-renown embedded microprocessor architects, led by former DEC Alpha / StrongARM design team members, allowing for a combination of proven design execution and MIPS performance technology to achieve high performance, low power dissipation and system integration in its Internet Edge Processor. Alchemy's headquarters are at 7800 Shoal Creek Blvd., Suite 222W, Austin, Texas 78757; or go to www.alchemysemi.com.

About Xilinx
Xilinx is the leading supplier of complete programmable logic solutions, including advanced integrated circuits, software design tools, predefined system functions delivered as cores, and unparalleled field engineering support. Founded in 1984 and headquartered in San Jose, Calif., Xilinx invented the field programmable gate array (FPGA) and fulfills more than half of the world demand for these devices today. Xilinx solutions enable customers to reduce significantly the time required to develop products for the computer, peripheral, telecommunications, networking, industrial control, instrumentation, aerospace, defense, low-power portable and consumer markets. For more information, visit the Xilinx web site at www.xilinx.com.

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