SGS-THOMSON to develop a JAVA Accelerator chip

SAN FRANCISCO, May 20, 1996 - SGS-THOMSON Microelectronics, a leading semiconductor manufacturer, announced today at an Oracle press conference that its New Ventures Group (NVG) will develop a Java hardware accelerator IC for the Network Computer (NC).

The NC is Oracle's implementation of easy to use, low cost computing devices, based on open Internet standards.

At the Oracle press conference, Oracle and industry leaders joined to define a reference profile for standard Internet appliances for communications and commerce. The reference profile will enable a new class of devices and ensure compatibility among them.

Within its Super Integration Program (SIP), SGS-THOMSON plans to provide a JAVA oriented Accelerator IC. Based on the company's advanced 0.35 micron, 5 level metal CMOS process, this Accelerator hardware could be integrated with other functional building blocks, including a CPU core, to form a computer on a chip. The Accelerator will allow the processing of JAVA programs at a speed comparable to standard PCs. It will enable the design and manufacturing of low cost NCs with the capability of running standard PC application programs.

Daniel Queyssac, Vice President, New Ventures Group, commented, "SGS-THOMSON is already a major supplier of ICs for high end computing, based on current generation PCs, including multimedia machines. However, we do recognize the emergence of a promising new market: the market for application specific computing based on low cost Network Computers and the JAVA language for Internet applications. ST has many times demonstrated its ability to integrate numerous functional blocks into single chip ICs. We have all the basic ingredients to design and build a VLSI device such as the JAVA hardware accelerator, and to further integrate it into a single chip computer later on."

SGS-THOMSON is a global independent semiconductor supplier listed on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE:STM) and on the Bourse de Paris. It designs, develops, manufactures, and markets a broad range of semiconductors, integrated circuits (ICs) and discrete devices used in a wide variety of microelectronics applications, including telecommunications systems, computer systems, consumer products, automotive products, and industrial automation and control systems.

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