Freescale Semiconductor and STMicroelectronics, semiconductor suppliers to the automotive industry, have made significant progress in the areas of automotive IP development, flash technology alignment and new product definition. Since announcing their joint design initiative last year, the automotive units from both companies have focused product development efforts on a wide range of automotive applications.
They have established design centres in Naples, Agrate, Sao Paulo and New Delhi, each dedicated to extending the joint product roadmap. Staffed by a total of 130 design engineers, these design centres are focusing on developing MCU products optimized for specific automotive market segments.
One of the most significant developments to date has been the recent delivery of a common microcontroller architectural platform design. This design enables multiple products to be derived simultaneously using optimized peripheral sets, each for a specific target application. This approach can significantly reduce time to market and can help to accelerate both companies’ goal of making Power Architecture™ technology the leading automotive microcontroller core. The partners plan to manufacture jointly designed Power Architecture MCU products on mutually aligned 90 nm process technology. Lead customers are expected to receive samples of the jointly developed products throughout Q1 2008.