IC designers to benefit from reduction of external memory and interconnection between ASIC and memory chip
FUKUOKA, JAPAN and SAN JOSE, CALIF. – March 24, 2008

NSCore, Inc., a supplier of nonvolatile memory (NVM) intellectual property (IP), and Kawasaki Microelectronics, Inc. (K-micro), a leader in High-End ASICs, today announced a licensing agreement that will add NSCore’s PermSRAM® embedded logic nonvolatile memory technology to K-micro’s ASIC intellectual property (IP) portfolio.

“We are very pleased to enter into a licensing arrangement with NSCore because adding NSCore’s PermSRAM technologies to our IP portfolio provides great value to our customers.” said Mr. Kyoichi Kissei, Executive Vice President, K-micro. “There are a number of applications that will gain from the use of PermSRAM technology, and we plan to offer it to all of our customers. Cost-sensitive consumer applications, for example, will benefit from the reduction of external memory on their boards as well as the reduction of the interconnection between the ASIC and memory chip.”

PermSRAM technology provides nonvolatile memory for SoC, ASIC, and ASSP using a standard CMOS logic process without any additional mask or process steps. PermSRAM is an ideal solution for an IC designer who is developing a chip that requires an internal function for analog trimming, program storage, encryption key, chip ID, look up table, etc.

“We are pleased that K-micro decided to license our technology to benefit thier customers.” said Mr. Tadahiko Horiuchi, President & CEO, NSCore. “K-micro provided valuable support and assistance during our development and verification phases, and we plan to continue working with the company as we advance our technology and migrate to more advanced 65nm and 45nm processes. Our relationship with K-micro, and their advanced customer base will drive us to develop advanced products and technology to meet the future needs of the market.”

About NSCore

Founded in 2004, NSCore develops, licenses, and markets innovative nonvolatile memory technologies for SoC semiconductors which are implemented on high volume, popular CMOS processes without extra steps, masks or process modifications. NSCore’s patented PermSRAM offers the optimum combination of extremely small MTP macro size, fast READ/WRITE similar to SRAM with very low cost. PermSRAM is not only scalable to 65nm generation and beyond but, also is fully testable which is unique to NSCore. PermSRAM’s excellent process portability, high yield and automotive level reliability gives SoC design engineers the tools to conceive and build cost effective products with very short TAT. For more information, please visit www.nscore.com.

About K-micro (Kawasaki Microelectronics America, Inc.)

K-micro’s innovative ASIC technologies and world-class design support are used in the consumer electronics, computer, office-automation, networking and storage markets. The company is an active participant in industry standards organizations, including InterNational Committee for Information Technology Standards (INCITS) Technical Committee T10 for SCSI Storage Interfaces, Optical Internetworking Forum (OIF), PCI Special Interest Group (PCI-SIG), USB Implementers Forum, Digital Universal Plug and Play Forum (UPnP), the Digital Display Working Group (DDWG), Home Phoneline Networking Alliance (HomePNA), Multimedia over Coax Alliance (MoCA), and OCP International Partnership (OCP-IP). K-micro has design centers in San Jose, Taipei, and Tokyo. For more information, contact the company at 408-570-0555, or visit www.k-micro.us.

Press contacts:

Akiko Nonaka
NSCore
+81-92-832-3120
press@nscore.com

Sacha Arts (for K-micro)
Slider & Associates
408-356-3099
sacha@sliderassociates.com