San Jose, Calif. and Dublin, Ireland - December 13, 2000 -
Parthus Technologies PLC (Nasdaq: PRTH; LSE: PRH), a leading developer of
semiconductor intellectual property for the mobile Internet market, and
UMC (NYSE: UMC), a world leading semiconductor foundry, today announced an
agreement that enables Parthus' customers to license its Bluetooth
radio on UMC's CMOS process to power next generation mobile Internet
devices.

Parthus has developed its innovative Bluetooth radio transceiver
on UMC's 0.18 micron CMOS process. This allows Parthus and UMC's customers
to have more ready access to the tools required for the development of
mobile Internet chips. Combined with Parthus' baseband IP integrated on a
system chip, this also enables the industry's first range of
second-generation single chip Bluetooth solutions.

The partnership allows a range of customers, including integrated
circuit (IC) companies and OEM manufactures, to license Bluetooth
wireless technology "off the shelf" from Parthus. By having this proven
technology readily available from Parthus on UMC's CMOS process, OEM
manufacturers and IC companies can realize significantly reduced time to
market cycles and cost-efficiencies.

"The essence of Bluetooth is wireless connectivity across a
range of electronic devices in a low-cost, high-performance package," said
Kevin Fielding, chief operating officer of Parthus. "By making our
technology available on UMC's CMOS process, we can accelerate the
timetable for the mass deployment of Bluetooth wireless technology
. CMOS is the workhorse of the microprocessor industry because it delivers
a low power, low cost solution. Furthermore, as a UMC ASICplus™ member,
customers can leverage the benefits of the program with this latest
offering to develop a total Bluetooth solution."

"The Bluetooth market is seeing tremendous growth as consumers
embrace the many benefits this technology has to offer," said Jim
Ballingall, vice president of worldwide marketing for UMC. "We have been
working with leading Bluetooth OEMs and IP creators such as Parthus
to develop RF CMOS technologies that will make Bluetooth chips more
cost-effective than the Bluetooth samples and prototypes that
currently utilize BiCMOS technology. Parthus' RF on CMOS solution makes an
excellent addition to UMC's portfolio of resources that enables our
customers to develop Bluetooth designs at a lower cost and within
shorter market windows."

About RF on CMOS

The radio is a critical component of any wireless system, providing the
antenna to the DSP link. It plays a key role in establishing the core
wireless system parameters, such as bandwidth and operating range. The
need for a minimum-cost, low-power consumption radio that meets the
Bluetooth specification is critical to the adoption of
Bluetooth in mass-market products, such as cell phones and
PDAs.

CMOS is the most widely used process technology in the industry because
of its ability to deliver an extremely cost effective solution, with
minimum compromising of performance or power consumption.The
Bluetooth radio from Parthus on CMOS development is focused
primarily on Bluetooth and GPS applications, as these lend
themselves to low-cost, CMOS implementation.

In-depth device characterization and RF test circuit evaluation have
allowed Parthus to leverage the ultimate in low-cost IC technology to
deliver highly integrated radio solutions operating at 2.4GHz.

About ASICplus

UMC's ASICplus program is its response to the increase in demand from
its customers for ASIC services. The first program of its type in the
industry, UMC has teamed up with leading fabless ASIC companies to provide
full ASIC services to system houses and fabless ASIC companies to provide
full ASIC services to system houses and fabless semiconductor companies.
The program gives customers the same advantages previously enjoyed by only
large COT companies. ASICplus offers a value-added, lower cost alternative
for the development of today's leading-edge ICs, focusing on front-end
design solutions and backend assembly and test services.

About UMC

UMC, a world leading semiconductor foundry, operates seven wafer fabs
in Taiwan's Hsinchu Science Park. UMC's Japanese subsidiary, Nippon
Foundry Inc., has one fab in Japan, and its joint venture with Hitachi,
Trecenti Technologies, is readying to ramp production in its 300mm fab in
Japan. UMC has also started construction on a 300mm facility in Taiwan's
Tainan Science Park, with target production scheduled to start by third
quarter 2001. UMC is a leader in foundry technology, with facilities
ramping to reach an annual output of 2.4 million eight-inch equivalent
wafers per year in 2000 and with more than half of the year-end wafer outs
in advanced 0.18 and 0.25-micron technology. UMC's joint development
program with IBM and Infineon Technologies introduced the WorldLogic
standard 0.13-micron technology earlier this year. UMC serves customers
around the world through sales and marketing offices located in the United
States, Japan, and the Netherlands. UMC can be found on the web at http://www.umc.com/

About ParthusCeva, Inc.

For further information About ParthusCeva,
Inc..

ASICplus is a trademark of UMC. All other trademarks or registered
trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

A PDF copy of this press release is also available
here.

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This press release may contain "forward looking
statements" within The meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of
1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934,
as amended. Any "forward looking statements" in this press release are
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forward-looking statements. Important factors that could cause actual
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include uncertainties relating to the acceptance of semiconductor
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"Risk Factors" section of our final prospectus dated May 19, 2000, which
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Note From UMC Concerning Forward-Looking Statements

Some of the statements in the foregoing announcement are
forward looking within the meaning of the U.S. Federal Securities laws,
including statements about future outsourcing, wafer capacity,
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