Renesas Presents Future MCU Roadmap

This week Renesas presented the technology roadmap for a new MCU architecture. At this time this is more of a pre-announcement. The company expects the specification to be complete by 2Q 2008 and first samples will be available by 2Q 2009.

When Hitachi and Mitsubishi merged their semiconductor operations to form Renesas a few years ago it became the number one MCU vendor for 16-bit and 32-bit MCUs. This was the result of combining the H8S/SX and the M16C/32C families. Renesas management promised to support both product lines equally. In the ensuing years this promise appears to have been kept.

Renesas is now looking to further solidify its position in high end MCUs. The new MCU architecture will in fact be a merger of the H8S/SX and the M16C/32C families. The goal will be to make this new 16-bit and 32-bit MCU architecture be compatible with the company’s existing MCU families. Renesas will offer a unified peripheral set. Both application specific and general purpose versions will be offered. There is no brand name for this new MCU at this time.

Renesas expects to see significant performance gain due to architectural improvements, 1MIP/MHz. In addition production will be done on a new 90nm process technology, there will be new gate clocking and Flash improvements. Flash density of 4MB will be offered. Designers will be able to use the same development platforms.

Semico Spin

Renesas has a strong track record in high end MCUs. It has been successful merging two separate organizations. The company has promised that it will continue to manufacture and support its current MCUs. One can expect that this new MCU architecture will have a higher growth rate in the long term. By merging the H8S/SX and the M16C/32C families and maintaining code compatibility, Renesas is offering an attractive migration path for current customers.