Collaboration Merges PGC’s SoC Design Expertise and Taiwan-based Customer Support with Atmel’s Customizable Microcontroller Solution

Atmel® Corporation (Nasdaq: ATML) and PGC (Progate Group Corporation) announced today an agreement to develop systems-on-chip for their mutual clients, based on Atmel’s CAP™ ARM®-based customizable microcontroller, with design expertise and Taiwan-based customer support provided by PGC.

In terms of this agreement, PGC will engage with clients to transform their design specifications into netlists for the metal programmable portion of the AT91CAP customizable microcontroller, incorporating IP blocks from PGC’s libraries of ARM-based peripherals and interfaces as required. PGC will apply its in-depth experience of system-on-chip design in order to minimize the design cycle time and optimize the performance of the device. PGC will also provide software development support to the clients to ensure that hardware and software are developed in parallel. The netlists will be validated on the AT91CAP emulation board by mapping them onto the FPGA that is built into the board, before being transferred to Atmel for placement & routing, and metal programming of the AT91CAP platform.

Michel Le Lan, Atmel’s Marketing Director for ASIC products, welcomed the agreement, “The high level of design expertise, together with local language support, provided by PGC enables us to offer the best possible service to our numerous clients in the Taiwan region. Together Atmel and PGC can propose a system-on-chip solution with a short development cycle, low development cost and attractive unit price in volume, thanks to the unique CAP architecture that combines an ARM-based microcontroller with a metal programmable block for customer IP.”

“Our customers will greatly benefit from Atmel’s AT91CAP platform that features a more cost-competitive ASIC and shorter time-to-market. PGC has clearly demonstrated a leading-edge design and implementation capability in design service for many years. With Atmel we have a partner that can help system companies and start-up companies get their ideas and designs into silicon quickly,” said Albert Hu, General Manager of PGC. “Together, PGC can offer unique, turnkey SOC solutions that will simplify customers' design challenges and get them to market faster."

Atmel’s AT91CAP Customizable Microcontroller

Atmel's AT91CAP is a microcontroller-based system-on-chip with fast local memory, a wide range of industry-standard peripherals and interfaces, and a Metal Programmable (MP) Block that allows the designer to add custom logic. By combining the performance, density and low power consumption of the fixed portion of the device with the flexibility of the MP Block, CAP enables application-specific products to be developed in a fraction of the time and at a fraction of the cost of standard-cell ASICs, but at a unit price close to that of standard cell devices. CAP also offers superior performance, smaller form factor and lower power consumption at a unit price significantly lower than an MCU-plus-FPGA combination for the same functionality. CAP is fully supported with an emulation board, software development tools, operating systems and code modules to facilitate application software development.

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 focused on consumer, industrial, security, communications, computing and automotive markets.

About PGC

Since its foundation in 1991, PGC (Progate Group Corporation) has focused on ASIC design services. From design initiation, verification, first silicon to production, PGC does its best to perform a time-to-value partner services to its customers. PGC endeavors to provide customers the best quality of design, logistics and quality control service to achieve the challenges of time to market, competitive price, and the most competitive position in the market.

© 2007 Atmel Corporation. All Rights Reserved. Atmel®, logo and combinations thereof, and others, are registered trademarks, CAP™ and others are trademarks of Atmel Corporation or its subsidiaries. ARM® is a registered trademark of ARM Ltd. Other terms and product names may be trademarks of others.

Atmel Product Information:

Atmel's AT91CAP product information may be retrieved at http://www.atmel.com/products/AT91CAP/

PGC Product Information:

PGC’s products and services are described at http://www.pgc.com.tw/business.html

Courtesy of  Atmel