Afa Adopts Tensilica's Xtensa Configurable Processor

Update: Cadence Completes Acquisition of Tensilica (Apr 24, 2013)

Plans to Optimize Processor for Industry-Leading Design Project

SANTA CLARA, CA – October 10, 2006 – Tensilica, Inc. today announced that Afa Technologies, Inc. (Afa) of Taipei, Taiwan, has selected its Xtensa configurable processor for a new multi-standard mobile digital TV receiver system-on-chip (SOC) design project. Afa is a fabless IC design house specializing in designs for DTV (digital television), cellular phones and digital home LANs (local area networks).

“We picked Tensilica’s Xtensa processor because we were very impressed with the ability to customize it, using the TIE (Tensilica Instruction Extension) language, for our demanding mobile TV demodulator application,” stated Philip Sun, Afa’s executive vice president. “Tensilica’s unique technology allows us to implement in low-power processors what previously was only possible using hardwired logic. By optimizing the Xtensa processor, we can deliver a programmable solution for advanced mobile TV handsets, and still meet the low power constraints needed to deliver the long battery life consumers expect.”

“Afa has extensive experience in DTV, and their engineers knew that a standard DSP processor core cannot deliver the combination of high performance and low power they need for this demanding application. We’re happy to work with them on their first Xtensa-based project,” stated Steve Roddy, Tensilica’s vice president of marketing.

Tensilica’s Xtensa processors are configurable, extensible and synthesizable. Using automated Xtensa technology, the system designer molds the processor to fit the application by selecting and configuring predefined elements of the architecture and by inventing completely new TIE instructions and hardware execution units that can deliver performance levels orders of magnitude faster than alternative solutions.

About Afa

Afa Technologies, Inc. is a fabless IC design house excels in high performance DTV receiver SOC. Afa offers a complete product line covering various digital multimedia broadcasting markets in applications of high mobility car TV, low power portable and handheld devices, and high quality PC/NB peripheral and digital STB. With the seasoned engineering and proactive customer support team, Afa provides not only the most compact chip with brilliant performance but also total system-level solution to maximize customer’s profit and fast time-to-market. For more information, please visit www.afatech.com.tw.

About Tensilica

Tensilica offers the broadest line of controller, CPU and specialty DSP processors on the market today, in both an off-the-shelf format via the Diamond Standard Series cores and with full designer configurability with the Xtensa processor family. Tensilica’s low-power, benchmark proven processors have been designed into high-volume products at industry leaders in the digital consumer, networking and telecommunications markets. All Tensilica processor cores are complete with a matching software development tool environment, portfolio of system simulation models, and hardware implementation tool support. For more information on Tensilica's patented approach to the creation of application-specific building blocks for SOC design, visit www.tensilica.com.