Dongbu HiTek and Cortus to Develop Joint Platform Solution for the Microcontroller (MCU) Market

Korean foundry Dongbu HiTek and French IP provider Cortus are to develop a design platform combining Dongbu HiTek’s embedded flash technology and Cortus processor and peripheral IP

MONTPELLIER, France & SEOUL, South Korea--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Cortus, a technology leader in cost effective, silicon efficient, 32-bit processor IP, and speciality foundry Dongbu HiTek, announce that they are teaming up to offer platform solutions. The design platforms will be based on the Dongbu HiTek 0.13µm eFlash technology and energy efficient Cortus APS3R processor and peripheral IP. Cortus S.A. licenses a range of 32-bit processor cores for embedded systems. The cores provide licensees with a scalable choice in embedded computational performance and silicon area to meet a wide variety of application needs.

“By developing a joint platform we will accelerate time to market for developers of microcontroller ICs.”

“Our joint platform solution will be a compelling offering for the new wave of intelligent applications,” says Dr. T.S. Kim, VP of Technical Engineering at Dongbu HiTek. “The Cortus APS3R processor is a great complement to our flash memory technology.” He explains, “Our platform will be optimized for the microcontroller(MCU) market.”

“We are delighted to team up with Dongbu HiTek,” says Michael Chapman, CEO and President of Cortus. “Their speciality foundry expertise with embedded flash memory is ideal for many of our target applications.” He adds, “By developing a joint platform we will accelerate time to market for developers of microcontroller ICs.”

The Cortus family of APS processors starts with the world’s smallest 32-bit core, the APS1, and goes up to the floating point FPS6. All cores interface to Cortus’ peripherals including Ethernet 10/100 MAC, USB 2.0 Device and USB 2.0 OTG via the efficient APS bus. They also share the simple vectored interrupt structure which ensures rapid, real time interrupt response, with low software overhead.

The APS toolchain and IDE (for C and C++) is available to licensees free of charge, and which can be customised and branded for final customer use. Ports of various RTOSs are available such as FreeRTOS, Micrium μC/OSII and μCLinux.

About Cortus S.A.:

Cortus S.A. is the cost/performance leader for 32 bit processor IP for systems on chip (SoC). Cortus uses a modern RISC architecture optimised for the new wave of low power, intelligent applications. The Cortus processor family comprises the entry level APS1, the energy efficient APS3R, the high performance APS5 and the floating point FPS6. Integrated circuits containing Cortus cores have been manufactured in high volumes for a wide range of applications including automotive, imaging, M2M controllers, secure microcontrollers, sensors, SIM cards, smart metering and wireless. For more information visit http://www.cortus.com.

About Dongbu HiTek:

Dongbu HiTek Co., Ltd. specializes in developing superb analog and mixed-signal processing technologies. The company adds high value to advanced ICs with a processing portfolio that encompasses Analog CMOS, BCDMOS, High Voltage CMOS, CMOS Image Sensor (CIS), Display Driver IC (DDI), Touch Screen Controller IC and NOR Flash technologies. With its best-in-class BCDMOS technology, the company manufactures power management chips that serve numerous applications ranging from home and handheld electronics to automotive and industrial systems. Currently processing technologies at nodes ranging from 0.35 microns to 90 nanometers, the company complements its world class foundry capabilities with top quality design support, prototype verification and packaging/module development. Headquartered in Seoul, Dongbu HiTek publicly trades its stock under 000990 on the Korea Stock Exchange. For more information, visit http://www.dongbuhitek.com.