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  02/13/01
NATIONAL SEMICONDUCTOR CHOOSES 3DSP TECHNOLOGY FOR NEXT-GENERATION WIRELESS COMMUNICATION CHIPS
IRVINE, Calif., February 13, 2001 - As part of its thrust into next-generation wireless communication products, National Semiconductor Corporation (NYSE: NSM) has selected 3DSP Corporation, the leading designer of configurable digital signal processor (DSP) cores, as a key development partner. In designing a new architecture for low power and configurable system-on-a-chip (SoC) products, National will incorporate a 3DSP DSP core, and will use HiFI™ - the 3DSP design environment for DSP intellectual property (IP) SoC - to tailor the SP-X™ DSP core to meet third-generation (3G) wireless requirements.
"The partnership with 3DSP provides National Semiconductor with a state-of-the-art DSP capability that will enable it to expand on its wireless experience to move quickly in producing third-generation cellular products," said Will Strauss, analyst, telecommunication and DSP technologies and president, Forward Concepts. "3DSP's unique configurable DSP architecture appears to be a very good match for National's future products."
"The requirements for next-generation wireless baseband chips are very demanding. Only a new approach to baseband architecture will meet the data rate and power needs of 3G wireless connectivity," said William Stacy, vice president, wireless product line, National Semiconductor. "We have designed a new communication signal processing architecture and chosen a 3DSP core as part of the architecture because of their industry-leading, high-performance technology and their dedication to providing outstanding support."
The highly-competitive 3G wireless sector is projected to be a $9.2 billion market by 2005. Using HiFI to develop DSP-based systems-on-a-chip helps speed time-to-market by using proven building blocks and system configuration.
"National Semiconductor conducted an intense evaluation before choosing to license our low-power, high-performance DSP technology," said Kan Lu, co-founder and CTO, 3DSP Corporation. "Their proven expertise in the development of wireless applications lends us top-class, third-party validation."
HiFI is the first-ever fully configurable high-performance DSP design platform. HiFI allows engineers to configure hardware to their specific needs, i.e., number and width of multiplier, register set, memory banks, etc. For example, a typical configuration using 0.18µ CMOS works at 220 MHz, performing 880 million MAC/sec or 3.52 GOP/sec. The SP-X DSP core generated by HiFI is based on 3DSP's proprietary Super-Scalar Single Instruction Multiple Data (SuperSIMD™) architecture, which combines a super-scalar DSP architecture with SIMD instruction set. In addition, HiFI allows users to not only modify the instruction set, but also to add application-specific instructions. This unique feature ensures maximum DSP power.
About National Semiconductor Corporation
National Semiconductor is the premier analog company driving the information age. Combining real-world analog and state-of-the-art digital technology, the company is focused on the fast-growing markets for wireless handsets; information appliances; information infrastructure; display, imaging and human interface technologies. With headquarters in Santa Clara, Calif., National reported sales of $2.1 billion for its last fiscal year and has approximately 10,500 employees worldwide. Additional company and product information is available on the World Wide Web at www.national.com.
About 3DSP Corporation
3DSP Corporation, the leader in the embedded digital signal processing IP industry, was founded in 1997 and led by a group of key executives from leading semiconductor and computer companies such as Texas Instruments, Motorola, Intel, Sony, Conexant, ARM and Sharp Electronics. The company licenses high-performance, low-power digital signal processing IP solutions to SoC companies for next-generation Internet, broadband, wireless communications and multimedia appliances. 3DSP provides a complete IP solution. For more information visit www.3dsp.com or contact 3DSP at 16735 Von Karman, Suite 100, Irvine, CA 92614; phone (949) 260-0156; fax (949) 260-0151 with regional offices in San Jose, CA, and Burlington, MA.
3DSP Corporation, 3DSP, SP-X, HiFI and SuperSIMD are trademarks of 3DSP Corporation. Other trademarks and registered trademarks are the properties of the companies with which they are associated.
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