Renesas Technology Develops Future 32-bit RX600 Series CISC MCUs, Based on Renesas' Next-Generation ‘RX’ Architecture

TOKYO, May 20, 2008 −− Renesas Technology Corp. today announced the development of the RX600 Series microcontrollers (MCUs), re-defining performance capabilities of CISC (Complex Instruction Set Computer)^*1 based MCUs. The new devices, scheduled for sample shipment in the second quarter of 2009, will be the first 32-bit products to incorporate the next-generation 'RX' CPU architecture and offer CPU performance of up to 200MHz, with the industry's fastest single-cycle flash access capability (100MHz).

The RX Family is being developed in response to the changing market needs for high-speed, high- performance, large capacity on-chip memory and power sensitive MCUs to support the growing complexity and performance demand of embedded systems. With the launch of the RX Family, Renesas aims to take advantage of the high growth 32-bit application space by providing a scalable CISC architecture. Renesas announced the development of a next-generation CISC CPU core architecture in May 2007. Completion of the design of the RX architecture was announced in November 2007.

"The RX Family is destined to become a mainstay of Renesas' future MCU business," said Yasushi Akao, board director and general manager, MCU business group, Renesas Technology Corp. "The new product line will comprise next-generation devices that complement and enhance the company's existing 16-bit and 32-bit CISC MCUs. Besides the new 32-bit RX600 Series, the RX Family will also include the 16-bit RX200 Series, devices targeted at applications that need low power consumption and high speed."

The devices will have up to 4MB on-chip flash, up to 256KB SRAM and highly integrated advanced peripheral functions. They will also be upward-compatible with Renesas' current product lines, providing customers an easy upgrade path to higher performance devices.

Renesas will continue to develop and mass-produce existing families of 16-bit and 32-bit CISC MCUs: the M16C Family, H8S Family, H8SX Family, and R32C Family. These popular devices serve a vast span of application areas, especially the consumer, automotive, industrial, office automation, and communication fields. With these product lines, Renesas holds the No1 share of worldwide MCU business^*2 and the global 16-bit MCU market^*3.

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The RX600 Series MCUs are designed for high-end embedded system applications, particularly those in the office automation, digital consumer product, white-goods, automotive, and similar fields. Such applications require high speed and fast processing performance and the ability to handle large programs. Features of RX600 Series MCUs include the following:

Renesas' standard development environment, the High-performance Embedded Workshop, will also provide total support for the new devices as well as its existing MCUs. This will simplify the migration of software resources from the existing products to MCUs based on the new CPUs, and accelerate the development and debugging of new software.

The initial product in the RX600 Series is scheduled for sample shipment in the second quarter of 2009. Renesas also plans to offer ASSP (Application Specific Standard Product) versions of RX600 chips that will incorporate such in-demand peripheral functions as a USB module (Host/Function), CAN interface, Ethernet module, and motor-control timer.

* Product names, company names, or brands mentioned are the property of their respective owners.

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For more informaiton, visit www.renesas.com/rx

Information contained in this news release is current as of the date of the press announcement, but may be subject to change without prior notice.

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