Magma's FineSim SPICE Certified for TSMC SPICE Tool Qualification Program

SAN JOSE, Calif., May 19, 2009 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Magma(r) Design Automation
Inc. (Nasdaq:LAVA), a provider of chip design software, announced today that
FineSim(tm) SPICE has been certified to meet the accuracy, performance and
process compatibility requirements of the TSMC SPICE Tool Qualification Program.
Designers can now use FineSim SPICE with the TSMC Model Interface (TMI) on any
design targeted at TSMC N40 nanometer processes with a higher level of
confidence in achieving first-time silicon success.

"The link between FineSim SPICE and TSMC processes has been enhanced," said Tom
Quan, deputy director of Design Services Marketing at TSMC. "Magma's aggressive
adoption of TMI ensures that customers will benefit from further improvements in
simulation accuracy and performance."

"This qualification from TSMC gives our customers more confidence and
flexibility in verifying their most challenging designs," said Anirudh Devgan,
general manager of Magma's Custom Design Business Unit. "Many of our customers
have already benefited from increased speed and capacity enabled by FineSim
SPICE's Native Parallel Technology(tm). Now the benefit will be further enhanced
when using the TMI with FineSim SPICE and FineSim Pro."

FineSim SPICE: Simulating Advanced Circuits

FineSim SPICE is a SPICE-level simulation analysis tool that incorporates
transistor-level simulation analysis capabilities for mixed digital and analog
designs. FineSim SPICE is a full SPICE simulation engine with distributed
processing that enables customers to simulate large-scale mixed-signal system
chips at the transistor level. By providing increased speed and capacity while
maintaining full SPICE accuracy, FineSim SPICE enables designers to simulate
advanced circuits -- such as PLLs, ADCs (analog-to-digital converters), DACs
(digital-to-analog converters) and gigahertz SERDES (SERializer/DESerializer) --
that they previously would not even attempt using slower traditional SPICE
simulators.

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 is a registered trademark, and "Design Ahead of the Curve," FineSim and
Native Parallel Technology 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 FineSim SPICE provides better
accuracy and performance than other circuit simulation products, allows
simulation of very large designs and about the features and benefits of Magma
software and TSMC's TMI and SPICE Tool Qualification Program 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 Magma's and TSMC's abilities to keep
pace with rapidly changing technology and the companies' products' and
technologies' abilities to produce desired results. 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). Magma undertakes no additional
obligation to update these forward-looking statements.

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CONTACT: Magma Design Automation Inc.
Monica Marmie, Director, Marketing Communications
(408) 565-7689
mmarmie@magma-da.com