XILINX ANNOUNCES INVESTMENT IN HE JIAN TECHNOLOGY CO.

Xilinx, Inc., the world's leading supplier of programmable chips and a pioneer of the fabless semiconductor manufacturing model, today confirmed its investment in Chinese foundry He Jian Technology (Suzhou) Co., Ltd.

Today's news underscores the company's commitment to development and implementation of cost-effective chip-making process technologies. He Jian has emerged among four top foundries fueling aggressive expansion in China to serve the global semiconductor industry. According to market analyst firm iSuppli Corp. (El Segundo, CA), He Jian is now shipping nearly 20,000 200mm wafers per month with a goal to achieve 60,000 wafers monthly in 2006.

"Our investment in He Jian is a first step in evaluating foundry options in China," said Wim Roelandts, Chairman and CEO of Xilinx. "Xilinx is committed to a multiple foundry partner strategy to allow for maximum flexibility in meeting customer demand for our entire product line, ranging from our newest, most advanced platform FPGAs to our more mature devices."

"It's been a privilege for He Jian to be selected by Xilinx for its first investment in China's foundry industry," added Victor Yu, Chief Financial Officer of He Jian. "This investment signals the company's confidence in He Jian as a leading foundry in China and a potential foundry partner in the future. At our 200mm twin fab, we offer a wide process portfolio from 0.5-micron to 0.18-micron, with support for 0.15-micron and 0.13-micron manufacturing by 2005."

In addition to He Jian, top Chinese foundries include SMIC (Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp.), Grace Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp. and Shanghai Hua Hong Electroincs Co. (HHNEC). Of the top four foundries, iSuppli reports that SMIC and He Jian are distinguished by their progress at 0.13-micron. SMIC has begun high-volume production at 0.13-micron CMOS and He Jian has established a roadmap including the development of 0.13-micron technology.

About He Jian
He Jian Technology (Suzhou) Co., Ltd (www.hjtc.com.cn) is a leading professional IC foundry company, centrally located in Suzhou Industrial Park with more than 1,500 employees.

About Xilinx
Xilinx is the worldwide leader in complete programmable logic solutions. For more information, visit www.xilinx.com.

The original press release can be found here.