SAN JOSE, Calif., Feb. 23, 2009 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Magma(r) Design Automation Inc. (Nasdaq:LAVA), a provider of chip design software, announced today that QThink(r) Design Services has added Titan(tm) Chip Finishing to its Talus(r)-based design flow to implement next-generation digital and mixed-signal designs. By leveraging Titan's tight integration with the Talus IC implementation system, QThink can automate what are traditionally manual, repetitive and time-consuming steps in the chip finishing process, allowing them to provide their customers with shorter development cycles and reduced development costs.

"With third-party chip finishing, an inordinate amount of time is spent performing manual chip integration tasks such as top-level routing, connecting to the package routing layers, implementing last minute ECOs and adding manufacturing data," said Urban Jangren, vice president of Engineering at QThink. "Titan is significantly faster and provides higher capacity than any other chip finishing tool we've used. It has turned several days of manual work into a scripted flow executed in minutes!"

"The Magma software offers the highest level of integration and automation, allowing designers to deliver ICs with better quality of results with less effort and in less time," said Suk Lee, general manager of Magma's Custom Design Business Unit. "QThink's decision to use the Magma software is a strong endorsement of its ability to improve designer productivity."

Titan: Lightning-Fast, Automated Chip Finishing and Live Integration with Digital Implementation

In traditional flows, chip finishing -- the point at which the digital and analog blocks of a design are integrated together -- is a time-consuming and manual task. Titan Chip Finishing provides complete and automated chip finishing capabilities. This fast, high-capacity system integrates mixed-signal layout with the Talus place-and-route capabilities. Titan Chip Finishing can manipulate the largest designs with ease, automates analog and special-net routing through an efficient constraints-based approach and makes all mixed-signal layout changes immediately available for physical and timing verification sign-off analysis through a live interface with Talus, Quartz(tm) DRC and Quartz LVS. Titan Chip Finishing can implement late engineering change orders (ECOs) that affect both analog and standard-cell components without significantly delaying the schedule.

About QThink

QThink is a world leader in providing ASIC and SoC design services to leading semiconductor companies world wide. QThink offers flexible technical and business engagement models spanning the full range of implementation tasks, from architecture and specification through logic design, verification, and physical implementation. QThink's robust and optimized methodology, coupled with our extensive team of design experts, has continuously demonstrated on-time delivery and right-by-construction silicon tape-outs for complex designs ranging from 130 to 45 nanometers. Partnering with QThink has allowed our customers to lower their operating costs as proven by successful delivery of over 200 designs to date through our design centers in San Diego, San Jose, and Bangalore, India.

About Magma

Magma's software for designing integrated circuits (ICs) is used to create complex, high-performance chips required in cellular telephones, electronic games, WiFi, MP3 players, DVD/digital video, networking, automotive electronics and other electronic applications. Magma's EDA software for IC implementation, analysis, physical verification, circuit simulation and characterization is recognized as embodying the best in semiconductor technology, enabling the world's top chip companies to "Design Ahead of the Curve"(tm) while reducing design time and costs. Magma is headquartered in San Jose, Calif., with offices around the world. Magma's stock trades on Nasdaq under the ticker symbol LAVA. Visit Magma Design Automation on the Web at www.magma-da.com.

Magma and Talus are registered trademarks, and "Design Ahead of the Curve," Quartz and Titan are trademarks of Magma Design Automation Inc. All other product and company names are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective companies.

Forward-looking Statements:

Except for the historical information contained herein, the matters set forth in this press release, including statements that Titan operates faster and provides higher capacity than any other chip finishing tool, that it seamlessly works with Magma's Talus and Quartz DRC products, improves analog designers' productivity and about the features and benefits of Magma's software and QThink's design services are forward-looking statements within the meaning of the "safe harbor" provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially including but not limited to QThink's decision to continue using Magma products, the ability of Magma's products to produce the desired results and the company's ability to keep pace with rapidly changing technology. Further discussion of these and other potential risk factors may be found in Magma's public filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (www.sec.gov). The company undertakes no additional obligation to update these forward-looking statements.

CONTACT:  Magma Design Automation Inc.
          Monica Marmie, Director, Marketing Communications
          (408) 565-7689
          
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