T-RAM Semiconductor, a five year old memory cell company in San Jose, has raised what looks to us as Silicon Valley's largest venture round so far this year: $40 million.

That's a lot of dough for a company with only 30 people. Release is in extended entry.

T-RAM SEMICONDUCTOR RAISES $40 MILLION IN SERIES C FINANCING

Leading Venture Capital Firms Combine to Fund Commercialization

Phase of Breakthrough High-Density Memory Chips

SAN JOSE, Calif. April 20, 2005 ö T-RAM Semiconductor, which has developed an innovative semiconductor memory technology expected to set new performance standards in the high-density memory market, today announced completion of its Series C financing, which raised $40 million÷bringing the total funds raised by the company to $86 million.

The round was led by InterWest Partners, a leading diversified venture capital firm, and further supported by CenterPoint Ventures. Also participating in the round were previous investors from T-RAMâs Series A and B financing, including Mayfield, US Venture Partners, Tallwood Venture Capital and New Enterprise Associates. T-RAM also reports that Victor Westerlind, a principal at InterWest Partners, will join the board of directors.

T-RAM Semiconductor is a five-year-old company that has developed an incredibly small but extremely fast memory cell expected to surpass todayâs high-density high-performance, 6T-SRAM (Six Transistor-Static Random Access Memory) devices. Leveraging this novel technology, T-RAM will address the multi-billion dollar market for discrete and embedded high-performance SRAM semiconductor memory.

ãThe funding comes at a high point in the companyâs technology roadmap,ä explained T-RAM CEO Kenneth Young. ãWith working silicon verifying the success of our first high-performance memory chips, we are now ready to commercialize this technology. In fact, our first memory chips will soon be launched÷with densities ranging from 9Mb up to 72Mb÷the highest commercially available density from any SRAM manufacturer today. Initial applications for this first-generation technology will be focused on the high-performance, high-density synchronous SRAM (SSRAM) market, which is dominated by high-end wired products in both communications and computing.ä

According to Victor Westerlind, ãThe market is eager for higher density on-chip RAM to both lower cost and boost performance in current and future products. T-RAM is responding to this need with a technology that promises to do it all÷increase density, reduce die size, cut costs and lower risk. As a result, T-RAM could truly change the playing field and accelerate the advancement of next-generation memory solutions.ä

Bob Paluck, general partner of CenterPoint Ventures, is equally excited about T-RAMâs prospects. ãWe look forward to helping the company commercialize one of the first major SRAM memory advances in more than a decade,ä said Paluck. He added ãT-RAMâs innovative technology will serve as the foundation for a host of new memory chips. And given its density, cost and performance advantages, it will offer the extendibility customers need for their future generation products.ä

About T-RAM Semiconductor:

T-RAM Semiconductor is a fabless semiconductor company that has developed an innovative process based on TCCT (Thin-Capacitively-Coupled-Thyristor) technology, which produces a memory cell one-fourth to one-eighth the size of competing 6T-SRAM (Six Transistor-Static Random Access Memory) memory technology. T-RAM Semiconductor is using its proprietary TCCT technology advantage to produce both higher density and lower cost High Performance Synchronous SRAMâs targeting the discrete and embedded memory needs of high-performance computer servers, networking, and telecom. For more information, visit www.t-ram.com.

Additional Information: InterWest Partners www.interwest.com; CenterPoint Ventures www.cpventures.