Press Release

Apmhion Semiconductor Joins Open Core Protocol International Partnership

Membership Supports Open Industry Standard and Helps Amphion Customers Lower Design Costs

PORTLAND, ORE. — April 7, 2003 — Open Core Protocol International Partnership (OCP-IP) today announced that Amphion Semiconductor, Inc., a leading provider of semiconductor intellectual property (IP) for digital video and imaging solutions in system-on-a-chip (SoC) design, is joining the organization. As a provider of semiconductor IP, membership in OCP-IP allows Amphion’s customers to optimize design resources, and shorten design cycles, which lower design costs and bring products to market faster.

"There is clear value an industry standard socket that eases the process of complex SoC design by promoting IP core reusability and reducing design time, while at the same time lowering both cost and risk," said Stephen Farson, Amphion VP of engineering. "OCP-IP offers the first truly open effort to make plug-and-play SoC design a reality. We are pleased to support its efforts."

Even in difficult economic times, OCP-IP’s membership base is rapidly expanding due to the tremendous return on investment it produces for members. OCP-IP members receive free training and support, free software tools, and free documentation, enabling members to utilize their core competencies and focus on the challenges of SoC design. Utilizing OCP-IP’s free infrastructure eliminates the need to design, document, and evolve a proprietary standard and support tools, freeing up valuable resources and maximizing ROI.

"We are proud to count Amphion among our members," said Ian Mackintosh, president of OCP-IP. "Amphion’s membership further illustrates the industry support we are seeing for OCP, the complete industry socket standard that everyone can use, regardless of specific on-chip architecture or processor selection."

About Amphion
Amphion is a leading supplier of video and imaging solutions for consumer, industrial, and military electronics. Using advanced techniques to directly map digital signal processing functions and algorithms into hardware, Amphion develops and licenses semiconductor intellectual property (SIP) cores that are superior in terms of cycles, area, power, and reusability. These optimized cores are orders of magnitude more computationally efficient than equivalent functions implemented in software on DSPs or general purpose processors. Amphion cores operate standalone, or by direct interface to industry-standard RISC and DSP processors, and can be easily migrated through successive generations of fabrication technology, thus preserving engineering investments in SoC design. Amphion is a privately held company with corporate headquarters and engineering in Belfast, Northern Ireland, UK and worldwide sales and marketing headquarters in San Jose, California, USA. For more information, visit www.amphion.com.

About OCP-IP
The OCP International Partnership Association, Inc. (OCP-IP) was formed in December 2001 to promote and support the open core protocol (OCP) as the complete socket standard that ensures rapid creation and integration of interoperable virtual components. OCP-IP's Governing Steering Committee participants are: Nokia [NYSE: NOK,], Texas Instruments [NYSE: TXN], STMicroelectronics [NYSE: STM], Sonics, and United Microelectronics Corporation [NYSE: UMC]. OCP-IP is a non-profit corporation delivering the first fully supported, openly licensed core-centric protocol that comprehensively fulfills system-level integration requirements. The OCP facilitates IP core reusability and reduces design time and risk, along with manufacturing costs for SoC designs. For additional background and membership information, visit www.OCPIP.org.

###