New High-Performance VLIW Processor Cores from Fujitsu Offer Ultra Low-Power, System-on-Chip Capability for Emerging Digital Consumer, Communications Markets.

SAN JOSE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--July 6, 1999--

Fujitsu Limited, Fujitsu Mikroelektronik GmbH and Fujitsu Microelectronics, Inc. (FMI) today introduced a Very Long Instruction Word (VLIW) processor core technology, the FR-V, developed to serve a wide range of fast-growing embedded applications in the digital consumer electronics, communications and automotive markets worldwide.

The FR-V Series is a new processor core platform designed for system-on-chip implementations. It provides designers with a varied set of configuration options that can be customized for specific applications. To meet the low power consumption requirements of emerging digital consumer and communications applications, the FR-V series power consumption is as low as 0.05 milliwatts per MOPS. The FR-V series also supports an instruction-level parallelism that enables simultaneous processing of multiple instructions.

"Demand for system-on-chip solution in the digital consumer and communications markets is growing rapidly worldwide, and semiconductor manufacturers must provide flexible, application-specific solutions," said FMI Chairman Ryusuke Hoshikawa. "Fujitsu has applied its experience with the FR and SPARClite(TM) series to create a new processor core that brings the high-performance, ultra low-power consumption, cost-effective systems required by these emerging applications."

Hoshikawa added that the new processor core platform enhances Fujitsu's worldwide strategy of providing system on chip solutions to meet specific requirements from the wide range of market segments that complement the company's new IPWare(TM), IPSymphony(TM) and IPHighway development environments.

Architecture Includes Key Instruction Sets, Choice of Cores

The FR-V architecture consists of 16-bit integer instruction set, 32-bit integer instruction set, media instruction set, digital signal instruction set, and floating point instruction set. This floating point instruction set is based on the IEEE 754 specification. Due to the FR-V's high performance, functions traditionally performed in hardware can be executed by software. It allows flexible partitioning of hardware and software implementation, so the changes can be executed during or after the development cycle. If desired, functions can be modified simply by re-writing software that runs on FR-V.

The FR-V technology will be available in two basic cores, each with a full range of custom options that can be defined according to application-specific requirements. The FR500 core is designed for media-rich processing applications, such as video compression. It provides 500 MIPS (million instructions per second) integer processing, 4300 MOPS (million operations per second) application processing, and 1000 MFLOPS (million floating point operations per second), and requires only a single watt of power consumption.

The FR300 core is designed for DSP applications, such as next-generation mobile phones. It provides 500 MOPS application processing with ultra low power consumption of just 25 milliwatts.

Processor Technology Experience

The FR-V series continues Fujitsu's long company-wide experience with processor technologies for embedded consumer and communications applications. The company's SPARClite series has been widely used in digital cameras, printers and networking systems. Its FR series has been designed into consumer electronics and communications products.

Fujitsu drew on this rich experience in embedded design software in the development of the new FR500 and FR300 processor cores. Development environments of the new processor cores are based on an advanced version of a vector compiler used in Fujitsu supercomputers. Instead of cumbersome assembly languages, which are used for developing DSP and media-related applications, the FR-V development environment enables users to write applications with high-level languages, which significantly reduces design cycle times.

Product Roadmap

The FR-V processor cores will be targeted primarily toward the digital consumer, mobile phone and automotive markets. First samples of the 266 MHz FR500 processor core will be available by the end of 1999. The first sample of the FR300 processor core will be available late in the year 2000.

In the future, Fujitsu plans to enrich its lineup of FR-V series by strengthening its CMOS technology and application specific functions. Fujitsu plans to continue refining its CMOS expertise with the development of sub-0.1um process technology, achieving over 500MHz of frequency and less than 0.05mW/MOPS of power consumption. Also, Fujitsu plans to intensify its application-specific functions by increasing the number of simultaneous operations and their combinations in VLIW.

Corporate Information

Fujitsu Limited (TSE:6702) is a leading provider of comprehensive information technology and network solutions for the global marketplace. Comprising over 500 group companies and affiliates worldwide -- including ICL, Amdahl and DMR Consulting Group -- the Fujitsu Group had consolidated revenues of 5.24 trillion yen ($43.3 billion) in the fiscal year ended March 31, 1999. With world-class hardware and software technology in computers, telecommunications and microelectronics, and a corps of 55,000 systems and services experts around the world, Fujitsu is uniquely positioned to harness the power of the network to help its customers succeed. Altogether, the Fujitsu Group has 188,000 employees and operations in over 100 countries. Home page: http://www.fujitsu.co.jp/index-e.html.

Fujitsu Microelectronics, Inc. (FMI) designs, markets and manufactures a comprehensive portfolio of advanced semiconductor and electronic devices. For product information, call 1-800/866-8608 or visit the web site at www.fujitsumicro.com.

Note to Editors: IPSymphony is a trade of Fujitsu Limited. IPWare is a trademark of Fujitsu Microelectronics, Inc. SPARClite is a registered trademark of SPARC International, Inc.