Atmel Licenses ARM1176JZF-S Processor

Extends Atmel's Roadmap of Upwards-Compatible ARM Technology-Based on 32-bit Microcontrollers From the ARM7 Family Through to the ARM9 and ARM11 Families

ROUSSET, France -- April 9, 2007 -- Atmel® Corporation (Nasdaq: ATML - News) announced today that Atmel has licensed the ARM1176JZF-S(TM) processor for implementation in high-performance system-on-chip (SoC) products.

"The licensing of the ARM1176JZF-S processor reinforces Atmel's long-term commitment to the ARM® architecture as one of the industry standards for 32- bit microcontrollers," said Alfredo Vadillo, Atmel's managing director for 32- bit MCUs. "We were one of the first licensees of the ARM7(TM) processor family and have extended our partnership with ARM through the ARM9(TM) processor family and now to the ARM11(TM) processor family. Together with our proprietary AVR®32 architecture, Atmel offers the industry's broadest range of 32-bit Flash microcontroller-based system solutions."

"Atmel is a leading microcontroller vendor with an extensive portfolio of ARM technology-based devices featuring the ARM7 and ARM9 family processors," said John Cornish, VP Marketing, Processor Division, ARM. "Atmel's decision to use the ARM1176JZF-S processor in future system-on-chip (SoC) products highlights the importance of the fast growing 32-bit market and the widespread adoption of the ARM architecture."

The ARM1176JZF-S core clocks at up to 620MHz in 90nm technology, while achieving a power consumption as low as 0.45 mW/MHz. It features ARM TrustZone® technology for enhanced security, ARM Jazelle® technology for efficient embedded Java execution, and ARM Intelligent Energy Manager (IEM(TM)) technology that can reduce processor energy consumption by 25% to 50%. ARM TrustZone technology provides support within the processor architecture for the trusted computing environments required to protect critical system functions from downloaded applications, copyright protection of downloaded media, and secure over-the-air system upgrades. The ARM1176JZF-S also features an integrated floating-point co-processor, which makes it particularly suitable for embedded 3D-graphics applications. The core runs the ARMv6 instruction set with media processing extensions and the Thumb® instruction set extensions for compact code. It is fully upward code- compatible with Atmel's existing licensed cores, the ARM7TDMI® and the ARM926EJ-S(TM) processors.

Atmel, a member of the ARM Connected Community, has also licensed the PrimeCell® high-performance AMBA® 3 AXI(TM) interconnect technology (PL301), along with the AMBA Designer tool, for a next generation on-chip bus development.

Availability

Atmel's first system-on-chip products based on the ARM1176JZF-S processor will be available 4Q 2007.

About Atmel

Atmel is a worldwide leader in the design and manufacture of microcontrollers, advanced logic, mixed-signal, nonvolatile memory and radio frequency (RF) components. Leveraging one of the industry's broadest intellectual property (IP) technology portfolios, Atmel is able to provide the electronics industry with complete system solutions.