Next-Gen Toshiba CE Products Get MIPS Processors

Staff Reporter -- Electronic News, 7/24/2006

Toshiba Corp. is set to use MIPS Technologies Inc.'s MIPS32 24KEc Pro and 24KEf Pro cores as its microprocessor line-up for next-generation digital consumer products. Targeted applications will include DTV, HD DTV, and set-top boxes.

The MIPS32 24KE core family leverages the high performance 24K microarchitecture while incorporating the MIPS DSP application specific extension. These instructions provide signal processing performance of up to 3 times over a range of embedded applications compared to RISC implementations without the DSP ASE, the companies claim.  The 24KE family provides efficient DSP capability while significantly reducing overall SoC die area, cost and power consumption, the companies said in a statement. The CorExtend capability of the 24KE Pro cores allows users to supercharge application performance by defining and adding their own instructions.

A long-standing MIPS Technologies licensee, Toshiba has previously licensed the MIPS architecture to develop 32- and 64-bit offerings for applications ranging from digital cameras and automotive telematics to home gateways and office automation. Toshiba's MIPS-Based designs include the 128-bit Emotion Engine multimedia processor developed with Sony for the PlayStation 2 computer entertainment system.

"As an existing licensee of the MIPS architecture, we are pleased to extend our long and successful relationship," Yoshio Ooida, executive VP of Toshiba's semiconductor company, said today in a statement.

"We're delighted to deepen our long-standing commitment to Toshiba by providing them with both our industry-leading architecture and high performance core technology," John Bourgoin, president and CEO of MIPS Technologies added in the statement. "With the license of the award-winning 24KE core family, we look forward to increasing our global presence in the highly competitive digital entertainment markets in Japan and around the world."