Magma and Chengdu ICC Establish Joint Lab to Foster Growth of Analog and Digital IC Design in Western China

CHENGDU, China and SAN JOSE, Calif., Feb. 24, 2010 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Magma® Design Automation (Nasdaq:LAVA), a provider of chip design software, and Chengdu ICC (CDICC), a government-funded organization that promotes integrated circuit (IC) design in Chengdu, today announced the recent opening of a joint IC design lab. Established in the National IC Design Chengdu Industrial Base, one of seven technology incubation parks in China, the lab will provide local designers with access to Magma's advanced analog and digital IC design software and comprehensive training programs.

"Chengdu Hi-tech is focused on building the semiconductor industry in western China," said Duan Zhigang, vice director of Chengdu Hi-tech Zone Innovation Service Center. "We work with leading IC design companies, wafer fabs, test and assembly providers, and other associated enterprises, including Fujitsu, Conexant, Freescale, Intel, SMIC, Panovasic, CSMSC, GoldTel and IPGoal, to create a complete industrial supply chain. With closer cooperation with Magma and the establishment of the Chengdu ICC-Magma IC design lab we further enhance the advantages of doing semiconductor business in western China."

"Designers in China and the rest of the world are facing increasing complexity, power, area, cost and time-to-market challenges," said Rajeev Madhavan, CEO of Magma Design Automation. "By making the Magma software and training available in the new lab, we can work more closely with our customers in Chengdu to help them overcome these challenges and train engineers in local design services companies to provide additional resources."

The joint lab will help IC design companies develop technical expertise, shorten the design cycle, accelerate the time to market for their products, and improve their ability to meet the demands of the international semiconductor market. Magma will offer technical training on its Talus® and FineSim™ software to IC design companies in the National IC Design Chengdu Industrial Base. Talus, an integrated IC implementation platform, is used by many of the world's top chip companies to develop complex chips in 45/40-nm process technology. FineSim, a complete simulation platform, is the industry's first circuit simulator to truly support multi-CPU simulation, providing three to four times faster simulation than traditional simulators while maintaining accuracy.

Talus and FineSim course descriptions, schedules and more information are available on the Chengdu ICC website at www.cdicc.org.cn.

About Chengdu ICC

The National Integrated Circuit Design Industrialization Camp-Chengdu was established in July of 2001 with the official sanction of China's Science and Technology Ministry. Managed by Chengdu Integrated Circuit Design Industrialization Camp Co., Ltd (CDICC), the camp is one of seven professional IC design industrialization bases in China and is the only center located in inner China.

About Magma

Magma's electronic design automation (EDA) software provides the "Fastest Path to Silicon"™ and enables the world's top chip companies to create high-performance integrated circuits (ICs) for cellular telephones, electronic games, WiFi, MP3 players, digital video, networking and other electronic applications. Magma products are used in IC implementation, analog/mixed-signal design, analysis, physical verification, circuit simulation and characterization. The company maintains headquarters in San Jose, Calif., and offices throughout North America, Europe, Japan, Asia and India. Magma's stock trades on Nasdaq under the ticker symbol LAVA. Follow Magma on Twitter at www.Twitter.com/MagmaEDA and on Facebook at www.Facebook.com/Magma. Visit Magma Design Automation on the Web at www.magma-da.com and www.magma-da.com.cn.

Magma and Talus are registered trademarks and "Fastest Path to Silicon" and FineSim are trademarks of Magma Design Automation Inc. All other product, company and institution names are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners.

Forward-looking Statements:

Except for the historical information contained herein, the matters set forth in this press release 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 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, U.S.
         Monica Marmie, Director, Marketing Communications
         (408) 565-7689
         mmarmie@magma-da.com
         
         Magma Design Automation, China
         Kelly Wang, Corporate Marketing Manager
         +86 10 62682280 x 8088
         kellyw@magma-da.com

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