EE Times Names Synplicity's Ken McElvain as One of the Semiconductor Industry's Top Influencers

Synplicity’s Chief Technical Officer Recognized for his Contributions in Semiconductor Development Technology

SUNNYVALE, Calif., October 20, 2003 — Synplicity Inc. (Nasdaq: SYNP), a leading supplier of software for the design and verification of semiconductors, today announced its co-founder and chief technical officer, Ken McElvain, has been selected by EE Times as one of 13 individuals who are influencing the course of semiconductor development technology. The EE Times’ editorial staff considers Mr. McElvain as taking semiconductor development technology into realms that exceed the bounds set by the inventors of the transistor more than 50 years ago, and recognizes Mr. McElvain for his high achievement in the development of FPGA synthesis software. The article highlighting the top influencers is featured in a special supplement included in the October 13, 2003 issue of EE Times titled, “The Future of Semiconductors.”

“It is a tremendous honor to be selected by EE Times as one of the industry’s top influencers,” said McElvain. “I am happy to have played a part in the remarkable advancements in semiconductor development technology that have contributed to the adoption of FPGA design, however, I believe the future holds even greater potential for advancements. With the increase in the complexity of programmable logic devices and the introduction of Structured ASICs, the need for even more powerful software design tools is becoming a requirement. My two areas of focus are to continue to innovate in FPGA design tools, and to ensure customers considering creating Structured ASICs have the best development platform possible.”

About Ken McElvain
Mr. McElvain is a co-founder of Synplicity, which he started in 1994. He was the inventor and chief developer of the company's flagship FPGA synthesis product, Synplify®, which has been used by thousands of engineers worldwide to design programmable logic. He is also a key contributor on Synplicity’s other products, including ASIC synthesis and FPGA, ASIC and Structured ASIC physical synthesis. Mr. McElvain is also a primary strategist on new products and overall company direction. Before Synplicity, Mr. McElvain worked at Mentor Graphics Corporation for 10 years as the principal architect of the AutoLogic ASIC synthesis tool, which he started at Silicon Compilers, Inc. before the company was acquired by Mentor Graphics. He has a total of 24 year’s CAE and hardware design experience. Mr. McElvain's other accomplishments while at Mentor and Silicon Compilers, and previously at Hewlett-Packard include advancements in: static timing verification, sequential ATPG, mixed switch and gate level simulation, early cycle-based simulation, extension languages and CPU design. He holds a BA in mathematics and BS in computer science from Washington State University.

About Synplicity
Synplicity Inc. (Nasdaq: SYNP) is a leading provider of software products that enable the rapid and effective design and verification of semiconductors used in networking and communications, computer and peripheral, consumer and military/aerospace electronics systems. Recognizing the company’s industry-leading position, since the year 2000 Dataquest has named Synplicity as the #1 provider of PLD synthesis tools, announcing a 54 percent market share in 2001, the last year for which data is available. Synplicity leverages its innovative logic synthesis, physical synthesis and verification software solutions to improve performance and shorten development time for complex programmable logic devices, application specific integrated circuits (ASICs), Structured ASICs and system-on-chip (SoC) integrated circuits. The company’s fast, easy-to-use products offer high quality of results, support industry-standard design languages (VHDL and Verilog) and run on popular platforms. Synplicity employs over 260 people in its 20 facilities worldwide. Synplicity is headquartered in Sunnyvale, Calif. For more information on Synplicity, visit http://www.synplicity.com

Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements including, but not limited to, statements regarding our progress and goals in the FPGA and structured ASIC design tools market. These statements relate to future events and involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause Synplicity's actual financial results, levels of activity, performance or achievements to differ materially from those expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements. In some cases, you will be able to identify forward-looking statements by terminology such as “may,” “will,” “should,” “expects,” “plans,” “anticipates,” “believes,” “estimates,” “predicts,” “potential,” “continue” or the negative of these terms or other comparable terminology. Forward-looking statements are only predictions and actual events or results may differ materially. Synplicity cannot provide any assurance that its future results will meet expectations. Synplicity's operating results could differ materially due to a number of factors, including the continued enhancement of our existing products and our progress in the FPGA and structured ASIC design tool market. For additional information and considerations regarding the risks faced by Synplicity, see its annual report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2002 as filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, as well as other periodic reports filed with the SEC from time to time including its quarterly reports on Form 10-Q. Although Synplicity believes that the expectations reflected in the forward-looking statements are reasonable, Synplicity cannot guarantee future results, levels of activity, performance or achievements. In addition, neither Synplicity nor any other person assumes responsibility for the accuracy or completeness of these forward-looking statements. Synplicity disclaims any obligation to update information contained in any forward-looking statement.

###

Synplicity and Synplify are registered trademarks of Synplicity, Inc. All other brands or products are the trademarks or registered trademarks of their owners.

Synplicity Reader Contact:
Nancy Weiss
Synplicity, Inc.
408/215-6000
nancy@synplicity.com

Synplicity PR Contact:
Steve Gabriel
Porter Novelli
408/369-1500
steve.gabriel@porternovelli.com