Early acquisition of Type 2 Core Licenses meeting both performance and energy efficiency for embedded, automotive, and smart mobile device applications

November 2, 2011, Seoul, Korea — Freescale Semiconductor (NYSE: FSL, www.freescale.com ) has licensed a new, ultra-efficient ARM® Cortex™-A7 MPCore™ processor that works in conjunction with its existing licensed Cortex-A15 processor. Freescale plans to expand its rapidly growing portfolio of next-generation i.MX application processors by leveraging the energy efficiency and performance of both ARM cores.

Freescale plans to target embedded, automotive infotainment, and smart mobile device applications by deploying ARM Cortex-A7 and Cortex-A15 processors in single-core and multi-core i.MX devices that support software and pin compatibility. For tasks with low performance requirements, the Cortex-A15 processor can cease operation while the Cortex-A7 processor simultaneously handles processing. ARM refers to this approach as "Big.LITTLE processing." By adopting this method, System-on-Chip (SoC) devices can utilize two distinct yet compatible processing engines, allowing power management software to freely select the processor best suited for the task within the same device. This can reduce overall system power consumption and extend the battery life of mobile devices.

Bernd Lienhard, Vice President and General Manager of Multimedia Applications at Freescale, said, "The high-performance Cortex-A15 processor and the ultra-high-efficiency Cortex-A7 processor will play a key role in providing the 'optimal' combination of performance, power consumption, and price that customers expect from the i.MX portfolio. We expect that this ARM technology will create great opportunities and enable us to build innovative and scalable i.MX solutions for a wide range of markets."

Freescale products based on ARM technology have established a leading position in the industry across a wide range of markets and regions. Freescale is the world's third-largest supplier of ARM architecture-based application processors and the number one supplier of application processors in the growing e-reader market. Freescale products based on ARM technology have also established a strong presence in growth markets such as medical/patient monitoring, factory automation, and automotive infotainment.

Lance Howarth, Executive Vice President of Marketing at ARM, stated, "ARM and Freescale have maintained a close relationship for many years and recently signed this agreement. ARM continues to develop energy-efficient, advanced processors for various markets and applications by collaborating with partners across the industry. The combination of ARM technology with Freescale's expertise in advanced SoC deployment and optimization will provide greater benefits to consumers and mutual customers."
Future i.MX products based on ARM cores are expected to feature the compatibility and power management capabilities that are iconic to the Freescale i.MX portfolio. By utilizing common SoC IP building blocks, software and development tools are compatible across the entire portfolio, and overall product complexity and development costs are reduced through integrated power management capabilities, extensive integrated I/O, and pin compatibility within the package family. Leveraging these advantages, customers can rapidly build a comprehensive product portfolio that is adaptable and scalable to emerging market requirements.

For more information about the i.MX application processor, please refer to www.freescale.com/imx .

For more information on the power management ICs included in the i.MX portfolio, please refer to www.freescale.com/analog .

ARM Cortex-A7 and Cortex-A15 Processor Information
The newly announced Cortex-A7 processor is the most energy-efficient application processor developed by ARM. It occupies an area of only 0.5 mm² and delivers exceptional performance in both single-core and multi-core configurations. The Cortex-A15 processor offers the highest performance among ARM products and operates at up to 2.5 GHz. This processor provides five times better performance with energy consumption nearly comparable to today's high-end smartphone processors.