Jerry Steach
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NEXFLASH SERIAL FLASH MEMORIES QUALIFIED FOR XILINX SPARTAN-3E FPGA FAMILY

• spiFlash Serial Flash Memories Provide a Pin,- Space- and Cost- Efficient Configuration Alternative for FPGA Designs

SAN JOSE, Calif., USA - May 16, 2005
NexFlash Technologies, Inc., a pioneer in Serial Flash technology, today announced the NexFlash® spiFlash® Serial Flash memories have been qualified for use with Xilinx's new Spartan™-3E field-programmable gate array (FPGA) family. Featuring the popular Serial Peripheral Interface (SPI), the spiFlash family offers Sparten-3E users a pin-, space- and cost-efficient alternative to ordinary FPGA configuration solutions.

Traditionally, FPGA configuration at power-up has been handled by dedicated configuration programmable read-only memories (PROMs), and in some cases by parallel-NOR Flash or other system-level solutions. These existing configuration options can have a significant impact on overall cost, board space and input/output (I/O) complexity of the total FPGA solution. To expand the range of FPGA configuration options, Xilinx recently introduced the new Spartan-3E FPGA family with support for industry-standard Serial Flash such as spiFlash memories from NexFlash. This development minimizes space and I/O usage, and helps further reduce costs to effectively compete with ASICs in price-sensitive volume applications.

"The Spartan-3E family is focused on reducing unit and overall system costs by offering a wide range of platform features at extremely low price points." said Babak Hedayati, senior director of Product Solutions Marketing at Xilinx. "With the spiFlash family, NexFlash offers a cost-effective, pin- and space-saving complement to our Spartan-3E line of FPGA devices, which provides designers with a more efficient configuration solution."

"Our spiFlash family is an ideal match for Spartan-3E FPGAs," said Robin Jigour, vice president of marketing at NexFlash. "We look forward to supporting the configuration requirements of Xilinx customers as the Spartan-3E family takes a foothold in the FPGA market."

Range of Densities, Space Saving Packages
SpiFlash memories interface with the Spartan-3E FPGAs through the 4-pin SPI interface that is ready for FPGA configuration within ten microseconds after power-up. The spiFlash family offers a broad range of densities from one to thirty-two megabits (M-bits) that will more than cover the configuration requirements of the Spartan-3E family. Additional memory can be used for cascading multiple FPGAs, storing user data or downloading Xilinx MicroBlaze™ processor code to RAM.

NexFlash offers densities up to 16M-bits in space-saving eight-pin SOIC packages, allowing an easy migration path across densities and using less than 25 percent of the space required for Parallel Flash. All spiFlash products meet industrial temperature operation, are available in Green "RoHS"-compliant packages and are supported by popular third-party PROM programmers. A spiFlash memory-to-Spartan-3E FPGA cross-reference guide is available at www.nexflash.com/xilinx_spartan3E.htm

Expanding Market for Serial Flash
The Serial Flash memory market is experiencing dramatic growth, with a wide range of applications quickly converting from Parallel to the more pin- and space-efficient Serial Flash technology. Densities in Serial Flash memories, such as members of the NexFlash spiFlash line, have climbed from 1M-bit up to 32M-bit. At the same time, the market for such memories is rapidly expanding. According to leading industry analyst Web-Feet, revenues for Serial Flash memories will grow from $275 million in 2004 to $480 million this year, then exceeding $1 billion in 2007.

About NexFlash
NexFlash Technologies, Inc. is a developer and provider of Serial Flash Memory products for today's emerging electronic applications. The company's spiFlash memories are tailored for serial code storage applications such as DVD/CD drives, hard disk drives, wireless LANs, network cards, DSL modems, printers, set-top boxes, FPGAs and more. NexFlash was founded in October 1998 and is a partially owned subsidiary of Winbond Electronics Corp. NexFlash holds numerous patents on its technology and has established strategic alliances with Sharp Corporation and Winbond Electronics. For more information please visit the NexFlash Website at www.nexflash.com

NexFlash and spiFlash are trademarks of NexFlash Technologies Inc. All other product names that appear in this material are for identification purposes only and are acknowledged to be trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective companies.