LG Electronics Picks Tensilica’s Xtensa Processor For the Digital Multimedia Broadcasting Project of the Korean Government

– Tensilica, Inc. today announced that LG Electronics of Korea has licensed Tensilica’s Xtensa microprocessor technology.  LG will integrate the Xtensa processor into an SOC (system-on-chip) for the Korean government’s newly announced Digital Multimedia Broadcasting (DMB) standard. Key applications include cellular phones for the local market as well as portable devices such as PDAs and digital televisions.

“We want to be first to market with exciting new products that integrate digital multimedia for the Korean market, but we were faced with lengthening RTL (register transfer level) hardware design cycles,” stated Dr. Jong-Seok Park, Vice President of LG. “By using Xtensa processors, we can cut the design time significantly, plus benefit from the programmability of the solution.”

“We are very excited that LG picked Xtensa for this exciting, demanding project,” stated Bernie Rosenthal, Sr. Vice President of Marketing and Sales for Tensilica. “This is another important design win for Tensilica in Korea and LG’s leadership position in consumer electronics makes it even more significant. We look forward to working with LG as they complete this project.”

Tensilica is the first and only company to offer an integrated, patented hardware and software design environment that enables the automatic generation of application-specific processors.

Tensilica’s patented Xtensa design environment has been used by over 60 leading semiconductor and system companies to deliver integrated systems-on-chip (SOCs) for a variety of embedded applications.  The Xtensa microprocessor core is shipping today in products ranging from low-cost consumer devices to high-performance communications equipment.

About LG Electronics
Established in 1958 as Korea's pioneer consumer electronics company, LG Electronics is a major global force in Electronics and Information & Communications products. More than 55,000 employees working in 73 overseas subsidiaries and marketing units around the world, strengthen LG Electronics’ core competencies in three main business companies: Digital Appliance, Digital Display and Media, and Telecommunication Equipment & Handset. The Digital Displays and Media Company provides core technologies and cutting-edge digital products such as Digital TVs including PDP and LCD TV and digitally integrated products like AV products, optical storage, set-top boxes, and home servers. LG Electronics’ goal is to enable the intelligent networking of digital products that will make consumers’ lives easier than ever. For more information, please visit www.lge.com

About Tensilica
Tensilica was founded in July 1997 to address the growing need for optimized, application-specific microprocessor solutions in high-volume embedded applications. With a configurable and extensible microprocessor core called Xtensa, Tensilica is the only company that has automated and patented the time-consuming process of generating a customized microprocessor core along with a complete software development tool environment, producing new configurations in a matter of hours. For more information, visit www.tensilica.com.

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Editors’ Notes:
* “Tensilica” and “Xtensa” are registered trademarks belonging to Tensilica Inc.
* Tensilica’s announced licensees are Agilent, Astute Networks, Avision, Bay Microsystems, Berkeley Wireless Research Center, Broadcom, Cisco Systems, Conexant Systems, Cypress, Crimson Microsystems, ETRI, FUJIFILM Microdevices, Fujitsu Ltd., Hudson Soft, Hughes Network Systems, IC4IC, Ikanos Communications, JNI Corporation, LG Electronics, Marvell, Mindspeed Technologies, National Semiconductor, NEC Laboratories America, NEC Corporation, Nippon Telephone and Telegraph (NTT), Olympus Optical Co. Ltd., ONEX Communications, OptiX Networks, Osaka & Kyoto Universities, S2io, Solid State Systems, Sony, STMicroelectronics, TranSwitch Corporation, Trebia Networks, Victor Company of Japan (JVC) and ZiLOG.