Renesas Standardizes on Astro, Key Component of Synopsys' Galaxy Design Platform; Astro Improves Design Closure Time by 30 Percent

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--July 30, 2003--Synopsys, Inc. (Nasdaq:SNPS), the world leader in integrated circuit (IC) design software, today announced that Renesas Technology Corp., a joint venture between Hitachi, Ltd. (TSE:6501) (NYSE:HIT) and Mitsubishi Electric Corporation (TSE:6503), standardized on Synopsys' Astro(TM) physical implementation solution to tape out multiple chips for audio-visual, mobile phone, and office automation products. The chips contained up to five million gates with a system clock speed of 400 megahertz (MHz) and were implemented in Renesas' advanced 150-nanometer silicon process. Astro, a cornerstone product in Synopsys' Galaxy(TM) Design Platform and the successor to Synopsys' Apollo(TM) place and route product, enabled Renesas to achieve an average of 30 percent reduction in turnaround time from their previous solution and has become part of Renesas' standard ASIC system-on-chip SoC design flow

"By using Astro, we were able to achieve silicon success for our complex designs on a very tight schedule," said Hisaharu Miwa, department manager of the EDA Technology Development Department at Renesas. "Our migration from Apollo to Astro was very easy because of the identical data model and user environment between the tools. Astro runs faster, handles bigger designs and brings about complete design closure, including timing and signal integrity, essential for improved productivity in our leading-edge designs. In some cases we have seen the design turnaround time reduced by as much as 50 percent."

Renesas Technology benefits from the full scope of Synopsys' Galaxy Design Platform at each step of their design process. Renesas' design flow includes Synopsys' Design Compiler(R) family for RTL synthesis, PrimeTime(R) for full-chip static timing analysis, Astro for physical implementation, Star-RCXT(TM) for full chip parasitic extraction and Hercules (TM) for physical verification. This familiar, trusted and production-proven design tool environment is central to achieving high productivity for Renesas.

"We are well aware that our customers' focus is increasingly turning to design productivity where design turnaround time is at a premium," said Dr. Antun Domic, senior vice president and general manager of the IC Implementation business unit at Synopsys. "Renesas' use of Astro in their standard flow exemplifies Astro's streamlined, easy-to-use, highly productive environment that meets designer needs for fast turnaround."

Astro is the most advanced physical implementation solution for ultra deep-submicron designs. Astro extends the foundation of Apollo, Synopsys' 180-nanometer place and route solution. This common design environment between Apollo and Astro, which includes the user interface and Milkyway(TM) database access, makes it easy for Apollo users to migrate to Astro for better performance, higher productivity, built-in signal integrity analysis and advance process rule support. Today, Astro is in use at the world's top 10 semiconductor companies.

About Galaxy Design Platform

The Galaxy Design Platform is an open, integrated design implementation platform with best-in-class tools, enabling advanced IC design. Anchored by Synopsys' industry-leading IC implementation tools and the open Milkyway database, the Galaxy Design Platform incorporates consistent timing, signal integrity (SI) analysis, common libraries, delay calculation and constraints 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 IC design.

About Renesas Technology

Renesas Technology Corp. designs and manufactures highly integrated semiconductor system solutions for mobile, networking, automotive, industrial and digital home electronics markets. Established on April 1, 2003 as a joint venture between Hitachi, Ltd. (TSE:6501) (NYSE:HIT) and Mitsubishi Electric Corporation (TSE:6503) and headquartered in Tokyo, Japan, Renesas Technology is one of the largest semiconductor companies in the world and the number one microcontroller supplier globally. Besides microcontrollers, Renesas Technology offers system-on-chip devices, Smart Card ICs, mixed-signal products, flash memories, SRAMs and more.

http://www.renesas.com/

About Synopsys

Synopsys, Inc. (Nasdaq:SNPS) is the world leader in electronic design automation (EDA) software for integrated circuit (IC) design. The company delivers technology-leading IC design and verification platforms to the global electronics market, enabling the development 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, Calif., and has more than 60 offices throughout North America, Europe, Japan, and Asia. Visit Synopsys online at http://www.synopsys.com/.

Synopsys, Design Compiler and PrimeTime are registered trademarks of Synopsys, Inc., and Apollo, Astro, Galaxy, Hercules, Milkyway and Star-RCXT are trademarks of Synopsys, Inc. All other trademarks or registered trademarks mentioned in this release are the intellectual property of their respective owners.

CONTACT: Synopsys, Inc.
             Lynda De Vol, 650-584-1190
             lyndad@synopsys.com
             or
             Edelman
             Sarah Seifert, 650-429-2776
             sarah.seifert@edelman.com