April 8, 2015, Seoul – STMicroelectronics (ST), a global semiconductor company contributing to customers across a wide range of electronic applications, has introduced a new line of microcontroller chips, the STM32F469/479. These products are designed to provide the high-performance graphics capabilities required to implement intuitive UIs, such as those found in smartphones, in wearable devices, smart home appliances, and other Internet of Things (IoT) products. By combining ST’s Chrom-ART Accelerator™[1] and MIPI-DSI technology[2], they provide performance levels widely used in modern smartphones and tablets without the drawbacks of increased costs or reduced battery life.

This new product line combines real-time processing capabilities with extended connectivity to enable smart products such as wearable fitness aids and intelligent home appliances. This allows for the provision of software ecosystems commonly found in daily life, such as application stores, to these applications as well.

At the heart of the new product line lies a powerful 32-bit low-power ARM® Cortex®-M4 MCU (Microcontroller Unit) core, and by adopting the chrome-ART accelerator and ART accelerator, it enables fast access to the MCU's program memory along with graphics and real-time processing speeds. By combining the accelerator and the MIPI-DSI interface, control, monitoring, and application tasks for demanding real-time systems are performed, eliminating the need to use more powerful and power-consuming processors.

Another point to note here is that this new product fully leverages ST’s long-standing expertise in minimizing circuit power consumption and fitting complex electronic circuits into minimal space. Minimizing power consumption allows for extended operating time without battery recharging, while circuit miniaturization enables manufacturers to satisfy the consumer sector’s constant demand for smaller and lighter products.

Michel Buffa, General Manager of ST Microcontrollers, said, “Thanks to smartphones and tablets, consumers around the world have come to desire not only high-level graphics performance but also the ease of access to features such as intuitive user interfaces and the fast download and execution of applications. Until now, graphics processing often had to be sacrificed to handle real-time applications. With the newly released microcontroller, we will be able to implement IoT products that meet current user expectations and also satisfy the strict constraints on power, price, and size for applications that rely on embedded microcontrollers.”

Among the new STM32 product line, the STM32F479 includes an embedded cryptographic coprocessor for applications requiring high security.

STM32F469/479 microcontrollers are currently being provided as samples to major customers, and mass production is scheduled for the third quarter of 2015. The price of the STM32F469IET6 with 512KB flash memory in a BGA169 package starts at $8.29 for orders of 10,000 units.