National Semiconductor licenses TriMedia processor core

National Semiconductor licenses TriMedia processor core
By EBN
April 3, 2001 (4:08 p.m. EST)
URL: http://www.eetimes.com/story/OEG20010403S0088

National Semiconductor Corp. today announced a strategic alliance with TriMedia Technologies. As part of the alliance, National will license the TriMedia TM32A media processor core for use in all Geode products.

In addition, National has acquired a substantial equity stake in TriMedia, a developer of processor cores and software tools and applications for digital consumer products.

TriMedia's 32-bit VLIW (Very Long Instruction Word) core will be used by National's Information Appliance Group and be applied to the personal access device (PAD), set-top box and thin-client markets. Terms of the equity arrangement are not being disclosed.

The TriMedia VLIW architecture processes up to five operations in every clock cycle, and has been designed into over 70 appliances, including digital television, analog television, set-top boxes, video editing systems, digital video recorders, videophones, and home net working products.

The company was established in Milpitas, Calif. with initial backing from Royal Philips Electronics and Sony Corporation.