SuperH formed by Hitachi and STMicroelectronics to boost µP core proliferation

9 May 2001 News

STMicroelectronics and Hitachi recently announced an agreement to establish an independent company, named SuperH. The company will develop and license RISC microprocessor cores of the SuperH family. According to the companies, SuperH will license the SH-4 core and all subsequent SuperH cores to the open market, making it easier for customers worldwide to create powerful, cost-effective system-on-chip embedded microprocessor designs. SuperH will also complete final development of the 64 bit SH-5 processor and take over the development of the future SH-6 and SH-7 cores.

Hitachi and STMicroelectronics, both of which are world top-10 semiconductor companies that manufacture and market a broad portfolio of devices, believe that an independently managed entity concentrating on developing and licensing the SuperH family of processor cores will provide significant benefits for systems manufacturers and semiconductor firms.

The success of SuperH will enlarge the already extensive user base for the SuperH architecture and make it an even more compelling embedded system design choice, said the companies, and in particular, for microprocessor-based application-specific products. The potential gains are significant; according to market research firm Gartner Dataquest, the worldwide market for such MPU-based application-specific products should increase by 33% this year and reach 1,4 billion units within four years.

SuperH will have its headquarters in San Jose, California, with operations in Bristol, UK and Tokyo, Japan. The Chief Executive Officer of the new company will be Toshimasa Kihara, formerly General Manager of Microcomputer & ASIC Product Operation at Hitachi, and the Chief Operating Officer will be Jean-Marie Rolland, currently R&D Director for MicroCore Development at STMicroelectronics. Initially, around 100 people will be employed by SuperH, the majority of whom will transfer from Hitachi and STMicroelectronics, said the companies.

Further reading:

SACEEC celebrates standout industrial innovation on the KITE 2025 show floor
News
Exhibitor innovation took the spotlight at the KITE 2025 as the South African Capital Equipment Export Council announced the winners of its prestigious New Product & Innovation Awards.

Read more...

---

SA team for International Olympiad in Informatics
News
The Institute of Information Technology Professionals South Africa has named the team that will represent South Africa at this year’s International Olympiad in Informatics.

Read more...

---

Anritsu and Bluetest to support OTA measurement
News
Anritsu Company and Sweden-based Bluetest AB have jointly developed an Over-The-Air measurement solution to evaluate the performance of 5G IoT devices compliant with the RedCap specification.

Read more...

---

The current sentiment of the global electronics manufacturing supply chain
News
In its latest report, the Global Electronics Association provides an analysis of the current sentiment and conditions in the global electronics manufacturing supply chain as of June 2025.

Read more...

---

Global semiconductor sales increase in May
News
The Semiconductor Industry Association recently announced global semiconductor sales were $59,0 billion during the month of May 2025, an increase of 19,8%.

Read more...

---

New president for Avnet EMEA
News
Avnet has announced that Avnet Silica’s president, Gilles Beltran, will step into the role of president of Avnet EMEA.

Read more...

---

DARPA sets new record for wireless power beaming
News
In tests performed in New Mexico, the Persistent Optical Wireless Energy Relay program team recorded over 800 W of power delivered for about 30 seconds with a laser beam crossing 8,6 kilometres.

Read more...

---

Nordic Semiconductor acquires Memfault
RF Design News
With this acquisition, Nordic has launched its first complete chip-to-cloud platform for lifecycle management of connected products.

Read more...

---

Trina storage demonstrates high efficiency and long-term reliability
News
Independent testing confirms 95,2% DC efficiency and 98% capacity retention after one year of operation.

Read more...

---

From the editor's desk: AI – a double-edged sword
Technews Publishing News
As with any powerful tool, AI presents challenges, some of which, if not carefully managed, threaten to undo the potential that it can offer.

Read more...

---