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- From: martin@thed.usup.uk22.bull.co.uk (Martin Percival)
- Subject: Re: Sudden leap in share price
- Date: Wed, 26 May 1993 10:06:57 GMT
-
-
- NOW TEXAS INSTRUMENTS LICENCES THE ARM RISC CORE
-
-
- In a break from Advanced RISC Machines Ltd's usual policy of
- licensing entire ARM chips to its semiconductor partners, it is
- simply licensing the 32-bit core to Texas Instruments Inc for
- use in real-time control applications for the automotive
- industry. Texas Instruments intends to incorporate the
- architecture into its Prism range of 8-bit and 16-bit customised
- microcontrollers (CI No 2,003) to create deeply embedded
- controllers for applications such as engine and chassis control.
- It also plans to combine the core with its own customisable
- signal processors to create highly integrated and differentiated
- signal processing systems for such applications as cellular
- products and hard disk drives. Ultimately, it wants to use ARM
- technology in the mobile computing arena. Texas Instruments said
- the decision to sign the non-exclusive agreement was based on
- several factors: first, the technology is available now; second,
- the ARM core operates at low voltages and offers "the best MIPS
- per Watt in the industry" - approximately 200 MIPS per Watt,
- compared with the AT&T Co Hobbit at 37 MIPS per Watt; third, it
- integrates easily into larger chip designs; fourth, it provides
- good price-performance - to buy chips in volume from Advanced
- RISC would cost less than $30 per unit; fourth, the chip is tiny
- - an ARM6L has a die size of 5.9mm square - and there is a
- strong need in the automotive industry to reduce the size and
- weight of components. Advanced RISC Machines is charging Texas
- Intruments a licensing fee for its technology and will charge a
- royalty per chip shipped. It will also undertake joint
- development work with a team of Texas engineers. The
- Cambridge-based group said the deal is the first step in
- broadening the customer base for ARM chips, and opening the
- technology up for use in niche consumer markets, where low power
- consumption and low cost are key. It also sees the pact
- accelerating "the acceptance of the ARM architecture as the
- predominant processor for new emerging applications".
-
-
- Hope this gives everyone a warm glow :-)
-
- Martin
-
- PS Ignore the posting header, you can reach me at percival_martin@tandem.com
-
-
-
- From: bilsby@hermes.mod.uk (David Bilsby)
- Subject: ARM and Texas Instruments part 2
- Date: 3 Jun 1993 14:50:33 GMT
-
- At last the news servers going again. Heres part 2 of the ARM & TI story
- from Electronics Weekly. Again its been ocr'd by a PC.
-
- ARM has entered a new market by signing a deal with Texas Instruments.
-
- Richard Wilson reports.
-
- Cambridge-based microprocessor design-house Advanced RISC Machines (ARM)
- has secured the fourth and arguably most important licensee for its ARM
- architecture.
-
- The deal with Texas Instruments, the sixth largest semiconductor manufacturer
- in the world, is not only important for the market acceptance of the ARM, it
- also links the ARM embedded microprocessor core to a market leading digital
- signal processing (DSP) supplier. TI intends to use the ARM core in a new
- family of real-time embedded control products for the growing automotive
- electronics market.
-
- That's a new market for ARM and one which it is well suited to, being a compact
- and robust 32-bit Risc microprocessor technology which does not cost an arm and
- a leg.
-
- "This agreement with Texas Instruments," said Robin Saxby, managing director of
- ARM, "will accelerate the acceptance of the ARM architecture as the predominant
- processor for new applications requiring the best combination of performance
- over power consumption and performance over cost."
-
- TI is far and away the largest chip supplier to license the ARM architecture.
- VLSI Technology, the US ASIC specialist which founded ARM in 1990 with Acorn
- Computers and Apple, was the company's first manufacturer and licensee. Last
- year GEC Plessey Semiconductor (GPS) became the second licensee and in March
- Sharp became the first Japanese licensee.
-
- The TI deal is different from previous licensing agreements in that it is
- designed to target the ARM architecture at a specific market, in TI's case the
- automotive market. It does not include ARM's standalone Risc chips which are
- already made by VLSI, GPS and in the near future Sharp.
-
- It is a clever move which increases ARM's market presence without standing on
- the toes of strategically important partners. In theory the Risc processing
- market is large and diverse enough to keep everyone happy.
-
- The low cost low power characteristics of the ARM have made it one of the
- contenders for the emerging market for low cost handheld computers, known as
- personal digital assistants (PDAs). The ARM610 is used by Apple in its Newton
- PDA.
-
- A slimmed down ARM without cache, FIFO and memory management, the ARM60 is used
- in the consumer interactive compact disc systems developed by 3DO of the US.
-
- GPS has been making both those Risc chips and the latest ARM250, the computer
- on a chip used by Acorn Computer, since the middle of last year.
-
- Like all Risc microprocessor designers ARM's strategy is to get its
- architecture adopted in as many applications as possible.
-
- VLSI and GPS are developing application specific products based on the ARM6
- core for mobile communications. data communications, video-processing and even
- smart cards. The TI deal now adds the important automotive electronics market
- to that list.
-
- TI will use the ARM6 core in its customised DSP devices, but it will also
- incorporate the ARM6 in its Prism library of mixed analogue and digital circuit
- blocks. "The addition of a low power, low voltage ARM core," said Tom Engibous,
- senior vice president of TI's semiconductor group, "further strengthens our
- capabilities to deliver application specific derivatives for existing
- and emerging markets."
-
- Prism is at the centre of TI's bid to enter the automotive electronic market,
- and will be used to design real-time engine management systems.
-
- It may have taken ARM three years to sign up its first four licensees, but it
- is just possible company has one or two more in the pipeline.
-
- Its plans are now to identify and enter as many market segments as possible.
- The TI agreement is likely to set the pattern for the future of the ARM
- architecture.
-
- From Electronics Weekly 26th May.
-