Philips Takes Lead in ARM9 Family-Based Microcontrollers with First 90nm MCU Family

SAN JOSE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Feb. 23, 2005-- Leveraging its early commitment and expertise in 90nm technology, Royal Philips Electronics (NYSE:PHG)(AEX:PHI) today introduced the industry's first 90nm ARM9(TM) family-based 32-bit microcontroller family. The LPC3000 family is based on Philips' Nexperia platform and manufactured in the 90nm process technology developed in the state-of-the-art 300 mm Crolles2 pilot facility Philips shares with Freescale Semiconductor and STMicroelectronics in Crolles, France. By utilizing 90nm process technology and the ARM926EJ-S(TM) core, Philips is able to reduce manufacturing costs, decrease power dissipation and increase operating speeds of its advanced 32-bit MCU technology. This provides manufacturers of industrial and peripheral control, motor, security and network applications the optimal combination of high performance, low power dissipation and low cost.

System designers are continually trying to improve power dissipation, especially in handheld consumer devices in which optimal power dissipation can help to extend battery life. Philips' ARM9 family-based LPC3000 MCU family is the ideal solution for these applications, as the 90nm technology allows for 1V operation -- reducing power dissipation nine times over 3V devices. The ARM9 family also provides several power management benefits including the ability to go into a low-power state until an interrupt or debug request occurs. Peripherals such as integrated USB On-the-Go (OTG) and full USB Open Host Controller Interface (OHCI) host capability eliminate the need for an external controller, further reducing power consumption as well as cost. Integration of USB OTG -- which provides consumers an easier way of connecting devices such as PDAs and printers by eliminating the need for a host PC -- also allows manufacturers of consumer electronics to add more advanced functionality to new devices. The LPC3000 family will feature a multi-level NAND Flash interface, allowing customers to use the highest density and lowest cost flash in the marketplace.

"The ARM9 family offers a number of features, including support for multiple interface options, which will enable companies such as Philips to develop higher-performance, lower-power MCUs," said John Cornish, director, Product Marketing, ARM. "By expanding its ARM offering with a 90nm ARM926EJ-S MCU, Philips continues to be a leading innovator in 32-bit MCU technology."

"The 32-bit MCU market is set to grow from a US$2.7 billion market in 2004 to a US$6.7 billion market in 2009. With most of the major suppliers having an ARM license, ARM-based MCUs will contribute largely to this market growth," said Brian Matas, vice president, Market Research, IC Insights. "Philips is in a good position to meet the price and performance requirements of the growing market with its new ARM9 90nm MCU family."

The announcement of the ARM926EJ-S processor-based MCU family coincides with the announcement of the ARM(R) RealView(R) Developer Kit for Philips. "The kit will provide best-in-class code size and performance for the complete range of ARM7TDMI-S(TM) processor- and ARM9 family-based microcontrollers from Philips, resulting in lower system costs and a higher performance for the end equipment," said Brian McAllister, director of marketing, Development Systems, ARM. "By coupling these tools with the real-time instrumentation provided by the ARM Embedded Trace Macrocell(TM) (ETM) and RealMonitor(TM) support included as standard in the Philips' devices, the ARM RealView Developer Kit for Philips will make shortened design cycles and faster time-to-market even easier to achieve."

"Our customers demand improvements in performance, power management and cost," said Ata Khan, director of product innovation, Microcontroller Product Line, Philips Semiconductors. "By combining our expertise in 90nm and high-performance ARM processor-based MCUs, we extend our successful LPC2000 ARM7 family-based MCU range with one of the most advanced solutions in the industry. Philips' LPC3000 family of ARM9 family-based MCUs is ideal for advanced applications such as USB OTG-enabled printers and smart card readers that make it easy for consumers to print or transmit data or images without the need for a PC."

Philips' LPC3000 family products will operate at 200MHz and feature a large array of standard communication peripherals to reduce system logic, thus reducing power and costs. These include up to 7 UARTs, SPI, I2C, USB, real-time clock, the NAND Flash interface and others -- such as Ethernet -- to follow. The family also features a vector floating-point coprocessor for full support of single-precision and double-precision calculations at CPU clock speeds, which is important for signal processing applications such as motor control.

Availability

Samples of the first devices in Philips' LPC3000 family will be available in Q2 2005. The RealView Developer Kit for Philips will be available from mid 2005.

About Royal Philips Electronics

Royal Philips Electronics of the Netherlands (NYSE:PHG)(AEX:PHI) is one of the world's biggest electronics companies and Europe's largest, with sales of $37.66 billion (EUR 30.3 billion in 2004). With activities in the three interlocking domains of healthcare, lifestyle and technology and 161,500 employees in more than 60 countries, it has market leadership positions in medical diagnostic imaging and patient monitoring, color television sets, electric shavers, lighting and silicon system solutions. News from Philips is located at www.semiconductors.philips.com.

ARM and RealView are registered trademarks of ARM Limited. ARM7, ARM7TDMI-S, ARM9, ARM926EJ-S, Embedded Trace Macrocell and RealMonitor are trademarks of ARM Limited. All other brands or product names are the property of their respective holders. "ARM" is used to represent ARM Holdings plc; its operating company ARM Limited; and the regional subsidiaries ARM INC.; ARM KK; ARM Korea Ltd.; ARM Taiwan; ARM France SAS; ARM Consulting (Shanghai) Co. Ltd.; ARM Belgium N.V.; AXYS Design Automation Inc.; AXYS GmbH; ARM Embedded Solutions Pvt. Ltd.; and ARM Physical IP, Inc.