UMC's 130nm CMOS Process Enables Trident's Breakthrough Performance-Per-Watt DX8.1 Graphics Processor for Notebooks.

Business Editors/High Tech Writers

WinHEC

HSINCHU, Taiwan/SEATTLE--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 16, 2002

Desktop Performance for Notebooks At Less than Three Watts (max.)

Trident Microsystems, Inc. (Nasdaq: TRID), and UMC (NYSE: UMC) today announced that Trident is now sampling the XP4(TM), the industry's first 3D graphics processor fabricated using UMC's advanced 130nm (0.13um) CMOS process technology. The XP4 fully implements the DirectX 8.1 graphics standard from Microsoft and delivers 1 billion pixels/sec performance while consuming less than three watts (max). The breakthrough performance-per-watt is more than twice that of all other competitors.

The XP4 uses only 30 million transistors, which is less than half the number of transistors of the nearest desktop equivalent in functionality and performance. UMC's leading edge 130nm process allows the XP4 to benefit from three significant technical advances:

 
-- Faster transistors that enable higher clock rate, corresponding to higher 
performance. XP4 engine clock reaches 250MHz and DDR memory clock reaches 
666MHz, both of which are the industry's highest clock rate for notebooks with 
DX8.1 capability. 
 
-- Smaller device geometry that produces smaller chip sizes and results in 
lower production cost. 
 
-- Lower operating voltage which causes much less power dissipation. A voltage 
reduction from 1.8 volts (in 180nm process) to 1.2 volts (in 130nm process) can 
reduce the power dissipation to less than 50%.