Semiconductor Industry Veteran Brings Networking and
                       Multimedia Expertise

SAN JOSE, Calif., Feb. 25, 2010 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Magma(R) Design
Automation (Nasdaq:LAVA), a provider of chip design software, announced
today the appointment of semiconductor industry veteran Govind Kizhepat
to its board of directors. Kizhepat is vice president of Business
Development at Qlogic Corp. (Nasdaq:QLGC), a global leader and
technology innovator in high-performance networking, including
adapters, switches and ASICs.

"Govind brings to our board significant experience and valuable
perspective on the semiconductor industry, particularly the networking
and multimedia markets," said Rajeev Madhavan, Magma chief executive
officer and chairman of the board of directors. "His expertise will be
a valuable resource to Magma as we continue to develop and deliver
advanced analog and digital integrated circuit design solutions."

In 2002 Kizhepat founded NetXen, a provider of intelligent network
controller chips and adapters for the enterprise server market, and
served as CEO until it was acquired by Qlogic in 2009. He was
previously an entrepreneur in residence at Benchmark Capital and
executive vice president of Globespan, heading the Media Gateway
Division. In 1996 Kizhepat founded iCompression and served as CEO until
1998 and later served as chairman and vice president of Engineering
until it was acquired by Globespan in 2000. Kizhepat's prior experience
includes serving in various technical leadership and management
positions at S3 and Sun Microsystems, where he played key roles in the
development of SuperSPARC and UltraSPARC processors.

Kizhepat holds a Bachelor of Science degree in electrical engineering
from the University of Delhi in India, and a Master of Science degree
in electrical engineering from Wayne State University in Michigan.

About Magma

Magma's electronic design automation (EDA) software provides the
"Fastest Path to Silicon"(TM) 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.

Magma is a registered trademark and "Fastest Path to Silicon" is a
trademark 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, including statements in quotations from
Magma's management, 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), including its Form
10-Q for the fiscal quarter ended November 1, 2009. The company
undertakes no additional obligation to update these forward-looking
statements.


CONTACT:  Magma Design Automation
          Press Relations:
          Monica Marmie, Director, Marketing Communications
            (408) 565-7689
            mmarmie@magma-da.com
          Investor Relations:
          Milan G. Lazich, Vice President, Corporate Marketing
            (408) 565-7706
            milan.lazich@magma-da.com