Imagination Optimizes its IP Capabilities with TSMC on Latest Silicon Process Technologies

June 14, 2012 -- Imagination Technologies, a leading multimedia and communications technologies company, announced its collaboration with TSMC to ensure that licensees of all of Imagination’s IP (intellectual property) cores can optimize speed, area and power consumption on TSMC’s most advanced 28nm and below processes.

By bringing together engineers from both companies, this collaboration aims to improve power, performance, and area by co-optimising TSMC process technologies and foundation IPs with Imagination’s most advanced IP cores, including its latest PowerVR GPUs.

Imagination, a member of TSMC’s Soft-IP Alliance program, is making this announcement as part of a closer relationship with TSMC. Imagination intends to validate its IP cores through the TSMC Soft-IP Alliance program.

Imagination’s IP core families in this collaboration include:

• PowerVR graphics, the de facto standard for mobile, embedded and computing graphics
• PowerVR video and display, the comprehensive and widely adopted range of multistandard decoder, encoder and enhancement cores for applications from mobile to ultra-HD
• Ensigma communications, the multi-standard programmable communications and connectivity technology for TV, radio, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth
• Meta processors, the advanced 32-bit hardware multi-threaded processor architecture that delivers the best in both general purpose and signal processing performance

Imagination is one of the world’s leading semiconductor IP suppliers, with cores which can be synthesised for a broad range of silicon processes. As more customers use Imagination’s IP cores to deliver the key high performance processing on their SoCs (System on Chip), Imagination plays a key role in the semiconductor IP segment to deliver the levels of performance demanded by leading edge customers.

Says Tony King-Smith, VP marketing, Imagination: “Many of our licensees rely on TSMC to provide them with leading edge low power, high performance silicon foundry capabilities. This strengthening of our relationship with TSMC reflects our determination to deliver the best possible SoC solutions on the latest silicon processes for our SoC IP licensing partners. We believe this initiative will ensure that Imagination’s licensees to continue to push the boundaries of what is possible for future generations of advanced SoCs.”

Says Mark Dunn, VP of IMGWorks, Imagination’s SoC implementation group: “The characteristics of the latest processes such as 28HPM and beyond have to be taken increasingly into account when designing future high performance IP-based solutions. As major blocks such as GPUs increasingly dominate the area, power and performance of next generation SoCs, design flows need to be tuned to maintain the optimum balance between maximizing IP portability and achieving the best possible performance. We believe this extensive engineering partnership will greatly benefit all of our IP partners.”

“We are delighted to be working with Imagination to deliver the full benefits of TSMC’s latest and most advanced processes for mobile and embedded applications,” says Suk Lee, Senior Director of Design Infrastructure Marketing Division, TSMC.  “By leveraging Imagination’s leadership position in the market, we can help our customers to ship the most highly optimised SoCs.”

About Imagination Technologies 

Imagination Technologies - a global leader in multimedia and communication technologies - creates and licenses market-leading processor solutions for graphics, video, and display, embedded processing, multi-standard communications and connectivity, and cross-platform V.VoIP & VoLTE. These silicon and software intellectual property (IP) solutions for systems-on-chip (SoC) are complemented by  an extensive portfolio of software drivers, developer tools and extensive  market and technology-focused ecosystems. Target markets include mobile phone and multimedia, connected home consumer, mobile and tablet computing, in-car electronics, telecoms, health, smart energy and connected sensors and controllers. Imagination’s licensees include many of the world’s leading semiconductor, network operator and electronics OEM/ODM companies. Corporate headquarters are located in the United Kingdom, with sales and R&D offices worldwide. See: www.imgtec.com