April 11, 2013, Seoul, Korea – Freescale Semiconductor (NYSE: FSL www.freescale.co.kr ) has licensed ARM® Cortex™-A50 Series Microcontrollers (MCUs) for its upcoming i.MX application processor and QorIQ communications processor families. This agreement is part of a new multi-year license with ARM, ensuring that Freescale will expand its ARM Powered® portfolio, one of the industry's most extensive ARM technology-based solutions, while continuing to focus on ARM architecture.

Geoff Lees, General Manager and Senior Vice President of Freescale’s Microcontroller Business Unit, said, “Freescale is pleased to announce a licensing model with ARM, starting with the ARM Cortex-A50 processor series. This agreement expands our long-term strategic technology partnership with ARM and enables us to utilize the latest ARM technology for future generations of i.MX application processors.”

ARM recently announced the Cortex-A50 series, based on the ARMv8 architecture and supporting 64-bit and 32-bit execution. Initially, this series consists of Cortex-A57 and Cortex-A53 processors. The Cortex-A57 processor is ARM's cutting-edge high-performance processor, while the Cortex-A53 processor is the most power-efficient ARM application processor and also the world's smallest 64-bit processor.

Cortex-A53 and Cortex-A57 processors can operate independently or be combined into an ARM big.LITTLE™ processor configuration to provide both power efficiency and high performance. In big.LITTLE processing, the System-on-Chip (SoC) utilizes two distinct yet compatible processing engines within the same device, enabling power management software to seamlessly select the appropriate processor for the task.

The Cortex-A53 processor offers an optimal balance between power consumption and performance, making it suitable for diverse applications such as automotive infotainment systems, medical equipment, e-readers, and next-generation IoT (Internet of Things) running i.MX application processors. Additionally, the Cortex-A53 processor is half the size of previous cores and provides hardware virtualization and enhanced security features.

The Cortex-A57 is designed to further extend the capabilities of future mobile and enterprise computing applications, including computationally intensive 64-bit applications. The Cortex-A57 processor is ideal for the markets targeted by Freescale's upcoming QorIQ communications processors, which are based on the core-agnostic Layerscape architecture. These markets include the enterprise, data center, and wired/wireless telecommunications equipment sectors. Future generations of QorIQ products will be able to continue delivering the industry's best performance-to-power ratio by leveraging the processing power of the Cortex-A57 processor.

Tareq Bustami, Vice President of Product Management for Freescale’s Digital Networking business unit, said, “Licensing advanced 64-bit ARM processors is a clear and logical step for Freescale to expand the core-agnostic Layerscape architecture across the QorIQ portfolio. Layerscape architecture-based products will help customers differentiate their products and gain a competitive edge in the market by appropriately leveraging world-class ARM and Power Architecture® technologies to provide unrivaled acceleration, interconnects, and other advanced IP.”

Simon Segars, President of ARM, stated, “Freescale offers one of the industry’s broadest portfolios of solutions based on ARM technology. The ARM Cortex-A50 series processors will lead the next era of high-performance, energy-efficient mobile and enterprise applications. Under this new license, Freescale will complete a variety of new, innovative, and ARM architecture-based designs.”