Micronas Selects ARM Mali200 Graphics Processor For Next-Generation TV And STB Chipset Designs

Leading silicon vendor in TV entertainment licenses Mali200 graphics processor for embedded TV and STB applications

SANTA CLARA, CA and CAMBRIDGE, UK — Micronas USA, Inc. and ARM (LSE:ARM)(Nasdaq:ARMHY) today announced at Embedded World, Nuremberg, that the Micronas Group has licensed the ARM® Mali200™ graphics processor for its next-generation IPTV chipset design for home entertainment and multimedia applications. Headquartered in Zurich, Switzerland, Micronas is a leading supplier of innovative application-specific IC system solutions for consumer electronics. This latest agreement enables Micronas to introduce a range of ARM Powered® solutions into graphics-related products for the consumer electronics market, which will allow Micronas’ customers to develop leading-edge system designs and to accelerate time-to-market.

Micronas, a member of the ARM Connected Community, has established a comprehensive product portfolio for the future of home entertainment that offers video enhancing technologies and advanced codec decoding. Micronas expects their ARM Mali200 processor-based solution to be available in 2008.

“The strategic partnership with ARM enables Micronas to bring scalable solutions to market that can be customized to suit customer demands in the home entertainment industry,” said Keri Waters, director of strategic marketing, Micronas USA, Inc. “This new initiative is designed to deliver outstanding, cost-effective products that combine a complete software solution with high-end graphics technology without sacrificing low power and low memory bandwidth consumption.”

Today’s mobile and consumer devices feature complex graphical user interfaces
and many incorporated gaming capabilities. This has resulted in increased functionality and performance requirements, while still demanding low power consumption, low memory bandwidth and low cost. The Mali™ family of graphics IP processors from ARM is designed to meet the market requirements for high-performance 2D and 3D graphics in mobile, automotive and home markets for resolutions ranging from QVGA all the way up to HDTV resolutions. ARM Mali products are incorporated into end-user devices by system integrators and system-on-chip (SoC) vendors serving mobile phone and PDA manufacturers, mobile game console vendors and manufacturers of infotainment systems for the automotive industry; all areas that require sophisticated graphics capabilities.

“ARM welcomes its association with Micronas, a leading company in the streaming media landscape,” said Borgar Ljosland, graphics business development manager, ARM. “With the adoption of ARM Mali technology, Micronas strengthens our Partner ecosystem. ARM is committed to working with its SoC Partners to enable highly integrated, power-efficient OpenGL ES 2.0 solutions for multimedia rich embedded applications.”