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

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

XILINX BEGINS SHIPPING INDUSTRY'S LARGEST FPGA DEVICE


Company now sampling advanced 0.35 micron devices; ramps production of newest 5-volt products

SAN JOSE, Calif., February 3, 1997--Xilinx, Inc. (NASDAQ:XLNX) today announced it has begun sampling the industry's largest field programmable gate array (FPGA), the XC4062XL device. The XC4062XL product is one of three new Xilinx FPGA devices manufactured using advanced 0.35 micron process technology and now available in sample quantities. Also shipping are the Xilinx XC4013XL and the XC4036XL devices. All three of the devices operate at 3.3 volts.

In addition, the company announced full production of the first two members of the XC4000EX family--the XC4028EX and the XC4036EX devices operating at 5 volts.

"Our new XC4000XL product family will serve the requirements of customers who are moving quickly to 3.3-volt design in order to have access to the largest devices offering the lowest power and highest performance," said Sandeep Vij, vice president of marketing at Xilinx. "Our new XC4000EX products provide higher densities and faster performance for those customers who continue to require 5-volt devices for their products. Further, those users designing with high-performance, low-power, high-utilization gate-arrays will find the XC4000EX and the XC4000XL architectures to be most like a gate-array."

Architectural Features Improve Device Performance, Utilization

Featuring identical architectures, the 3.3-volt XC4000XL and the 5-volt XC4000EX FPGA families permit each logic block to be configured as 32 bits of single port or 16 bits of dual port high-speed, synchronous RAM using the powerful Xilinx Select-RAM feature. Select-RAM distributed RAM allows users ultimate flexibility in selecting the size and location of their RAM functions. The dual-port RAM makes the XC4000EX and XC4000XL devices ideal for extremely high-speed FIFO designs necessary for single-chip PCI solutions.

The high-performance routing resources of the XC4000EX and XC4000XL families ensure the highest level of device utilization and overall performance. The new Xilinx FPGAs also feature patented, redesigned input/output blocks (IOBs) and a more flexible, high-speed clock network. The combination delivers four-nanosecond setup and six-nanosecond clock-to-out times providing on/off chip delays comparable to gate arrays. New high-speed interconnect, fast IOBs, and advanced process technology enable up to 100 MHz system performance.

The XC4000EX and XC4000XL products are the lowest power devices in their class. The Xilinx FPGAs operate with three to four times less AC power than competitive products. This is largely due to Xilinx's segmented routing versus competing non-segmented routing architectures. Because AC power is directly proportional to capacitance, a shorter interconnect segment will consume less power allowing operation at higher performance with higher reliability.

Design and Implementation Software

Designing with the XC4000EX and XC4000XL devices is made simple with Xilinx software, which provides all of the implementation technology, module generation, design optimization and mapping, placement and routing, timing analysis, and program file generation. An open systems strategy with packages from third-party EDA vendors of the Xilinx Alliance Partner Program provides customers with a complete front-end tool package. Software is available on SUN-Sparc, HP-9000, and IBM RS6000 workstations, and PC platforms running Microsoft Windows 95. Windows NT operating system versions will be supported at a later date.

Device Logic Cells Logic Gates Range Max. RAM bits Max. I/O
XC4028EX

2432

18,000 - 50,000

32,768

256

XC4036EX

3078

22,000 - 65,000

41,472

288

XC4013XL

1368

10,000 - 13,000

18,432

192

XC4036XL

3078

22,000 - 65,000

41,472

288

XC4062XL

5472

40,000 - 130,000

73,728

384

Pricing for the devices starts at $214 for the XC4028EX device in 100-piece quantities. The XC4036XL device in 100-piece quantities starts at $360. The devices are available in HQFP, BGA, and PGA packages.

Founded in 1984, Xilinx is the world's largest supplier of programmable logic solutions producing 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, peripheral, telecommunications, networking, industrial control, instrumentation, consumer, and high-reliability/military markets. For more information on Xilinx, Inc., access the World Wide Web site at http://www.xilinx.com.

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Xilinx is a registered trademark of Xilinx, Inc. All XC-prefix products and Select-RAM referenced above are trademarks of Xilinx, Inc. Other brand or product names are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners.

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