Sonics and ARM Enter Patent License Agreement and Broaden Technology Cooperation

Sonics licenses interconnect patent portfolio to ARM® and expands companies’ cooperation on advanced power management and interconnect technology

Milpitas, Calif. – April 30, 2013 – Sonics Inc., the leader of system IP for cloud-scale systems-on-chip (SoC), today announced that ARM has licensed Sonics patent portfolio currently consisting of 138 properties for use in ARM products and specifications. Sonics patent portfolio, several of which are fundamental to the development and implementation of on-chip interconnect products used in SoCs, are powering many of today’s cutting edge connected devices. This agreement also signals the closer cooperation between Sonics and ARM on Sonics’ next generation advanced power management and on-chip interconnect technologies for leading edge SoCs.

“Moving the SoC market forward is critical to our mutual customer base,” said Grant Pierce, Sonics CEO. “This agreement with ARM demonstrates our ongoing commitment to make SoC design easier for our customers. Working in partnership with ARM, Sonics will continue to deliver innovative solutions that address some of today’s most difficult challenges when building advanced SoCs. We welcome our enhanced relationship with ARM and look forward to providing products in support of the company’s large ecosystem.”

Sonics and ARM also announced cooperation to support Sonic’s next generation advanced power management technologies, which are intended to deliver disruptive levels of power savings through dark silicon techniques. Close interaction between system processors, on-chip networks, and the attached IP subsystems and cores are important to minimizing overall system power.  The ability to keep cores switched off for much longer periods of time, along with the ability to turn devices on and off much more rapidly, will enable significant power savings over current solutions. Through close coordination with ARM, Sonics will provide SoC developers with the ability to continue to scale the performance and functionality of their devices while increasing battery life.

“A broad IP ecosystem is critical for the successful deployment of SoCs”, said Tom Cronk, executive vice president and general manager, Processor Division, ARM. “The agreement to license Sonics’ interconnect patents and to support Sonics on their next-generation interconnect and low power management is an important step in strengthening the ecosystem. Sonics and ARM have a clear vision for the future of IP technology, which we look forward to realizing together.”

About Sonics, Inc.

Sonics, Inc. is the leader of system IP for cloud-scale SoCs. As a pioneer of network-on-chip (NoC) technology, Sonics offers SoC designers one of the world’s largest portfolios of system IP for mobile, digital entertainment, wireless and home networking. With a broad array of silicon-proven IP, Sonics helps designers eliminate memory bottlenecks associated with complex, high-speed SoC design, streamline and unify data flows and solve persistent network challenges in embedded systems with multiple cores. Sonics has more than 138 patent properties to date and has enabled its customers to ship more than two billion chips worldwide. Founded in 1996, Sonics is headquartered in Milpitas, Calif. with offices worldwide. For more information, please visit www.sonicsinc.com, www.sonicsinc.com/blog, and follow us on Twitter at http://twitter.com/sonicsinc.