Ann Duft
Xilinx, Inc.
(408) 879-4726
ann.duft@xilinx.com

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

SAN JOSE, Calif., January 20, 1997--Xilinx, Inc., (NASDAQ:XLNX), today announced it has begun volume shipments of a new family of aggressively-priced complex programmable logic devices (CPLDs) combining FLASH technology and an advanced architecture with in-system programming capability.

The first four devices in the new Xilinx XC9500 family--the XC9536, XC9572, XC95108, and XC95216 devices--offer densities ranging from 36 to 216 macrocells and come in a variety of packages. Priced at least 30 percent less than competing CPLDs, the XC9500 family features an architecture optimized for pin-locking. Pin-locking is a necessity for digital designers who want to take advantage of the XC9500 family's in-system programming (ISP) capability that enables remote equipment upgrades, easier prototyping and simpler manufacturing.

"We are extremely excited about these new XC9500 products, which we consider highly strategic to the company's future growth prospects," said Wim Roelandts, president and CEO of Xilinx. "The company's long-term success will depend on its ability to deliver a broad range of products as more and more customers decide to choose a single supplier for their various programmable logic needs. The XC9500 family marks a major step in that direction for Xilinx."

Xilinx is targeting the innovative XC9500 family at ISP users, who constitute the fastest growing segment of the CPLD market. In the manufacturing process, for example, ISP permits the new Xilinx CPLDs to be programmed and tested as part of the production process. This eliminates the need for device programmers and helps prevent mechanical damage that can occur to CPLDs during the manual programming process. ISP also eliminates labeling, inventorying and assembling of unprogrammed parts or revising parts that already have been programmed. Moreover, in the area of product life-cycle management, the in-system programming capability of the XC9500 family allows manufacturers to design equipment that can be maintained or diagnosed remotely in the field, eliminating the need to physically change out parts.

"New benchmarks of the XC9500 family demonstrate the superior pin locking of these devices compared to competing CPLDs," said Evert Wolsheimer, vice president and general manger of the Xilinx CPLD Business Unit. "As a result, our customers greatly reduce their risk of having to create new board layouts because of logic design changes. They also save money and get to market much quicker."

"Pin locking was necessary for the design of our individual seatback entertainment audio systems in airplanes because we had to be able to concurrently design the printed circuit board in one location while we did the CPLD design in another," said Joel Hayashida, a staff engineer at Sony Transcom Inc., in Irvine, CA. "Both pieces of the design converged and gated us in our time to market. In our case, the XC95108 device held the pinouts through multiple design iterations every time."

Aggressive Pricing

Wolsheimer said the XC9500 family is--and will continue to be--the lowest cost solution to our customers over competing CPLDs targeted at the ISP market.

The first XC9500 production parts are currently being produced using a 0.6 micron process, but Wolsheimer said the company plans to quickly move to 0.35 micron, and later 0.25 micron, processes to further reduce die sizes and improve costs. The Xilinx XC9500 ISP CPLDs are priced significantly below competing products. The 100-unit price for the XC95108-10 PQ100C is $28.35--40 percent less than comparable, competitive ISP devices in the range of 100 macrocells.

Specifications and Pricing

Pricing for the XC9500 family begins at $15.35 for the XC95108 device in 100-unit quantities of the PC84 package. Prices for 100-unit XC9536 devices starts at $3.65; pricing by the beginning of 1998 for the same device will be $1.40 in high-volume quantities.

Software Support

A variety of software is available to support the new XC9500 devices, including Xilinx XACTstep Foundation XABEL CPLD, and third-party packages from EDA vendors who are members of the Xilinx Alliance Partner Program. The easy-to-use XABEL CPLD enables PC-based designers to use the industry-standard ABEL hardware description language for Xilinx CPLD designs. Prices for the software packages begin at $495 for complete XC9500 family support.

Founded in 1984, Xilinx is the world's largest supplier of programmable logic solutions comprising industry leading device architectures and world class design software. Headquartered in San Jose, Calif., the company pioneered the market for field programmable gate array (FPGA) semiconductor devices that provide high integration and quick time-to-market for electronic equipment manufacturers in the computer, peripherals, telecommunications, networking, industrial control, instrumentation, consumer electronics and high reliability/military markets. For more information on Xilinx, access the World Wide Web site at http://www.xilinx.com.

Xilinx is a registered trademark of Xilinx, Inc. All XC-prefix product designations, Foundation, and XACTstep are trademarks of Xilinx, Inc. Other brands or product names are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners.

#9706