Mentor Graphics Calibre Named Internal Standard for Physical Verification and Production Sign-Off at Hua Hong NEC

WILSONVILLE, Ore., July 14, 2003 - Mentor Graphics Corporation today announced that Calibre?, the company's market-leading physical verification and manufacturability tool suite, has been selected as the internal standard at Hua Hong NEC Electronics Company, based in Shanghai, China.  Hua Hong NEC is a pure play IC foundry for advanced process technologies and is the world's leading "very large-scale integration" (VLSI) microprocessor manufacturer.

Hua Hong NEC offers 0.35 micron and 0.25 micron for volume production and will release deep submicron processes of 0.18 micron in late 2003.

With this adoption, Calibre is now the internal standard for the top three foundries in China.

"Calibre is production-proven and offers a single, robust platform from design to silicon," said Yao Zeqiang, Ph.D., deputy director, product engineering department at Hua Hong NEC.  "The fact that Calibre is an industry standard worldwide was also a major factor in its selection as our internal standard."

"Foundries require a physical verification tool with performance, capacity, accuracy and flexibility across design styles and process technologies," said Joseph Sawicki, general manager, Mentor Graphics? design-to-silicon division.  "Calibre offers Hua Hong NEC the reliability they need now and in the future as they ramp up to even more advanced technologies."

The Calibre Design-to-Silicon Platform
In nanometer design, the handoff between IC layout and manufacturing has changed.  In previous technologies, the handoff was a simple DRC/LVS check at tapeout.  Now it is a multi-step process where the layout database is modified so the design can be manufactured.  This presents a host of challenges. Issues arise concerning process effects, photolithography, data volumes and acceptable yield.

To meet these challenges with confidence, design teams turn to the integrated Calibre design-to-silicon platform, which includes physical verification, full-chip, transistor-level parasitic extraction, design for manufacturability (DFM), mask data preparation (MDP) and resolution enhancement technologies (RET).  Every facet of the design-to-silicon transition is efficiently and accurately managed by Calibre. 

In a continuing tradition of delivering advanced technology, the Calibre design-to-silicon platform of integrated tools is recognized as the industry standard worldwide to address the complexities of advanced IC design.

About Mentor Graphics
Mentor Graphics Corporation (Nasdaq: MENT) is a world leader in electronic hardware and software design solutions, providing products, consulting services and award-winning support for the world's most successful electronics and semiconductor companies. Established in 1981, the company reported revenues over the last 12 months of about $600 million and employs approximately 3,500 people worldwide.  Corporate headquarters are located at 8005 S.W. Boeckman Road, Wilsonville, Oregon 97070-7777; Silicon Valley headquarters are located at 1001 Ridder Park Drive, San Jose, California 95131-2314. World Wide Web site: www.mentor.com

About Hua Hong NEC
Shanghai Hua Hong NEC Electronics Limited (HHNEC) is the first 8" wafer foundry provider in mainland China with state-of -the-art CMOS Process technology, manufacturing equipment and ISO (both 9001 and 14000) qualified service support system.  Founded on July 17th, 1997, HHNEC is jointly ventured by Shanghai Hua Hong Group and NEC Corporation, with registered at US$700 million and total investment is US$1.2 Billion, which is known as the core of "National 909 Project". HHNEC serves as the wafer Foundry provider for customers from both abroad and domestic China.  Its production capacity will extend to be 32,000 wafer/month in 2003 equipped with 0.18?m Process technology.

Calibre and Mentor Graphics are registered trademarks of Mentor Graphics Corporation. All other company or product names are the registered trademarks or trademarks of their respective owners.

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For more information, please contact:
Nan Devlin Mentor Graphics 503.685.1809 nan_devlin@mentor.com	Suzanne Graham Mentor Graphics 503.685.7789 suzanne_graham@mentor.com