D2Audio Selects UMC for Production of DSPs Used in
Intelligent Digital Amplifiers

AUSTIN, Texas and HSINCHU, Taiwan, January 12, 2004 --
D2Audio Corporation, a provider of highly-compact, intelligent digital amplifiers for consumer, professional, commercial and, automotive audio systems, and UMC (NYSE: UMC), a world-leading semiconductor foundry, today announced that UMC is shipping in volume the sophisticated digital signal processors (DSPs) used within D2Audio's digital amplifiers modules.

"D2Audio makes the world's only intelligent digital amplifier," said Skip Taylor, D2Audio’s Chief Technology Officer. “Its patented adaptive intelligence gives users superior sound quality and features they never dreamed possible.

"Created under D2Audio's patents and intellectual property, a powerful DSP chip, especially designed by D2Audio provides the amplifiers' intelligence. The chip performs sound optimization and correction on the audio signals that the module produces, giving the digital amplifier very high quality and reliable, repeatable performance. All of the amplifiers' unique intelligent features are the result of the one-of-a-kind D2Audio chip.

"We needed to partner with a best-in-class semiconductor foundry that could readily manufacture the brains within these amplifier systems, the DSPs. UMC has proven to be an excellent choice as it provides exceptional service and support and helped us to ship our product within our target-market windows."

Fu Tai Liou, head of the America Business Group at UMC noted, "We are excited to be involved in the production of D2Audio's digital amplifiers as these products are being targeted toward innovative consumer and commercial applications. As D2Audio's sole foundry partner, we are committed to further providing the foundry services they need to be successful in the digital consumer market. We look forward to continuing our fruitful relationship with them."

D2Audios's 4"x 6" 1000 watt digital amplifiers are designed for compact lifestyle audio video systems multi-zone distributed audio systems and other high-end sound systems in homes, commercial buildings and automobiles where limited space and heat is an issue. The intelligent systems are capable of recognizing complex speaker systems configured for different furniture and room layouts and can adjust accordingly to optimize the user's entertainment experience. The digital amplifier modules also eliminate the need for bulky heat sinks to dramatically reduce size and weight, and can be directly placed into receivers, amplifiers and speakers.

About UMC
UMC (NYSE: UMC, TSE: 2303) is a leading global semiconductor foundry that manufactures advanced process ICs for applications spanning every major sector of the semiconductor industry. UMC delivers cutting-edge foundry technologies that enable sophisticated system-on-chip (SOC) designs, including 90nm copper, 0.13um copper, embedded DRAM, and mixed signal/RFCMOS. UMC is also a leader in 300mm manufacturing; Fab 12A in Taiwan is currently in volume production for a variety of customer products, while Singapore-based UMC is now in pilot production. UMC employs over 8,500 people worldwide and has offices in Taiwan, Japan, Singapore, Europe, and the United States. UMC can be found on the web at http://www.umc.com.

About D2Audio
The D2Audio Corporation is the sole supplier of intelligent digital amplifier modules to the manufacturers of audio equipment in the consumer, commercial, professional and automotive industries. For more information about D2Audio, visit www.d2audio.com

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