Imagination Technologies (IMG.L) and TSMC announce a collaboration to develop a series of advanced IP subsystems for the Internet of Things (IoT) to accelerate time to market and simplify the design process for mutual customers. These IP platforms, complemented by highly optimized reference design flows, bring together the breadth of Imagination’s IP with TSMC’s advanced process technologies from 55nm down to 10nm.
The IoT IP subsystems in development include small, highly-integrated connected solutions for simple sensors which combine an entry-level M-class MIPS CPU with an ultra-low power Ensigma Whisper RPU for low-power Wi-Fi, Bluetooth Smart and 6LowPan, as well as OmniShield multi-domain hardware enforced security, and on-chip RAM and flash. The advanced RF and embedded flash capabilities from TSMC enable Imagination to push the boundaries of IoT integration.
At the higher end, highly-integrated and sophisticated audio and vision sensors will be a key component of future mutual customers’ SoCs for a wide range of IoT applications such as smart surveillance, retail analytics and autonomous vehicles. As part of the collaboration, Imagination and TSMC are working together to realize reference IP subsystems that bring together Imagination’s PowerVR multimedia IP, MIPS CPUs, Ensigma RPUs and OmniShield technology to create highly-integrated, highly-intelligent connected audio and vision sensor IP platforms. These IP subsystems will leverage advanced features such as GPU compute, power-managed CPU clusters and on-chip high-bandwidth communications, demonstrating that high-performance local processing and connectivity can be integrated efficiently and cost-effectively.
Tony King-Smith, EVP marketing, Imagination, says: “We have been working with TSMC for more than two years on advanced IP subsystems for IoT and other connected products. Many of our licensees rely on TSMC to provide them with leading-edge, low-power, high-performance silicon foundry capabilities. Through our ongoing collaboration with TSMC, we are focused on creating meaningful solutions that will help our mutual customers quickly create differentiated, secure and highly integrated products.”
Suk Lee, TSMC senior director, Design Infrastructure Marketing Division, says: “In order to simplify our customers’ designs and shorten their time-to-market, TSMC and our ecosystem partners are transitioning from chip-design enablers to subsystem enablers. We are working closely with Imagination, an established IP leader, as part of our new IoT Subsystem Enablement initiative to help companies get their IoT and connected products to market more quickly and easily.”