ARM License to Samsung &n

Staff -- Semiconductor International, 6/1/1999

To keep pace with system-on-chip (SOC) trends, companies such as Samsung, Hyundai and LG Electronics have focused on microprocessor core technologies with previously signed licensing agreements with ARM Ltd. (Cambridge, U.K.). Samsung is now the first to license ARM9 to maintain code compatibility between processor families and to provide greater cost effectiveness in system development and shortened time to market.

Samsung's MML (memory merged logic) and mixed-signal technologies will employ the ARM processor technologies for high performance, small die-size and power-efficient SOC solutions. According to ASIC director K.H. Kim, Samsung will develop 0.25 µm CMOS-based ARM9TDMI cores that clock at over 150 MHz at 2.5V. "We will also release the ARM920T microprocessor, which supports Windows CE-based MMU, data cache and instruction cache during the third quarter of this year," Kim said. Further work with the ARM Consortium for Windows CE in the development of solutions based on the ARM920T is underway. Microsoft Corp. provides the necessary components to enable ARM-based solutions for Windows CE.