Magma Enables EE-Solutions to Cut Design Cycle Time Over Cadence Flow

October 2, 2003

Design Services Team Achieves Timing Closure without Iterations on 1.4-Million-Gate Networking Chip
CUPERTINO, CA., January 24, 2002 – Magma Design Automation, Inc. (NASDAQ: LAVA), a provider of chip design solutions, announced that the design services team of EE Solutions of Taiwan has successfully taped out a 1.4 million-gate, 0.18-micron, 133 MHz networking integrated circuit (IC) using the Blast FusionR physical design system. EE-Solutions achieved timing closure on the design without iterations back through synthesis, going from netlist to GDSII in half the time required by its previous design flow which was based on Cadence Design Systems' Silicon Ensemble.

"Blast FusionR enabled us to achieve timing closure much sooner and reduce the design size while providing a more predictable design cycle," said Dr. Austin Hwang, vice president of engineering for EE Solutions. As part of the design process, EE Solutions' customer modified the chip's netlist after a trial design flow, and the time required for the Cadence tool to achieve GDSII after the change was four days longer than initially required. Even with the netlist change, the run time required to reach GDSII with the Magma flow was the same.

"With Cadence's Silicon Ensemble point tool solution, we typically had to go through four to five layout-to-synthesis iterations to achieve timing closure on designs such as this, and we wouldn't know if we had met timing until after layout. Blast FusionR provided reliable timing information early on and maintained that timing throughout the flow. Having validated its capabilities, we plan to take full advantage of this production-quality tool environment and are now targeting several more projects for the Blast Fusion flow."
"With the success of EE-Solutions in the Asia Pacific region, we now have multiple tape-outs in virtually every significant semiconductor market region," said Roy E. Jewell, Magma president and chief operating officer. "We look forward to continuing to enable EE Solutions to deliver advanced designs to this important market."

About EE Solutions

Founded in 1999, EE Solutions is a leading provider of turnkey ASIC and System-on-a-Chip (SoC) design services to integrated circuit and systems companies worldwide. The company has been recognized for its engineering background, demonstrated experience in overseas delivery, precision in executing concepts, advanced design and research capabilities, and providing customers with optimal solutions to achieve their business objectives. EE Solutions also offers effective design methodologies and a wide range of advanced intellectual property and professional personnel to help customers enter the field of ultra-deep-submicron design. EE Solutions is headquartered in Hsinchu City, Taiwan, with branch offices in Taipei, Taiwan and Fremont, California. It also has representatives in Shanghai, PRC; in Toronto, Canada; in Seoul, Korea; and in Singapore.

About Magma

Magma software products enable chip designers to reduce the time required to design and produce complex integrated circuits in the communications, computing, consumer electronics, networking and semiconductor industries. Magma provides a single executable for RTL-to-GDSII chip design. The company's products, Blast FusionR, Blast ChipR, Blast PlanR and Blast NoiseR, utilize Magma's proprietary FixedTimingR methodology and single data model architecture to reduce the timing-closure iterations often required between the logic and physical processes in conventional IC design flows.
Magma maintains headquarters in Cupertino, Calif., as well as sales and support facilities in Silicon Valley, Los Angeles, Orange County and San Diego, Calif.; Boston, Mass.; Durham, N.C.; Laurys Station, Pa.; Austin and Dallas, Texas; Newcastle, Wash.; and in Germany, Israel, Japan, Korea, the Netherlands, Taiwan and the United Kingdom. The company's stock trades on NASDAQ under the ticker symbol LAVA.

Visit Magma Design Automation on the Web at www.magma-da.com.

Magma and FixedTiming are registered trademarks and Blast Chip, Blast Fusion, Blast Noise and Blast Plan are trademarks of Magma Design Automation. All other product and company names are trademarks and registered trademarks of their respective companies.

FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS:

Except for the historical information contained herein, the matters set forth in this press release, including statements that Blast Fusion will provide high-performance designs and that Blast Fusion will reduce turnaround time for chip designs, statements regarding customers' plans for continued and future use of Blast Fusion, and Blast Fusion's ability to continue to enable Magma's customers to deliver advanced designs to the Asia-Pacific market, are forward-looking statements within the meaning of the "safe harbor" provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially, including, but not limited to, the ability of Blast Fusion to provide desired results, Magma's ability to keep pace with rapidly changing technology, Magma's customers' ability to integrate its products with their own, and other risks detailed in Magma's Prospectus dated November 19, 2001 filed with the SEC and from time to time in Magma's SEC reports. These forward-looking statements speak only as of the date hereof. Magma disclaims any obligation to update these forward-looking statements.