UK firm reveals the world's most energy-efficient microprocessor
Publish date: 15 March 2012 by Hanleigh DanielsARM has pulled the wraps off its latest microprocessor design, called the Cortex-M0+ processor, which the company refers to as the “world’s most energy-efficient microprocessor.”
According to ARM, the Cortex-M0+ processor has been optimised to deliver ultra low-power for intelligent sensors and smart control systems in a broad range of applications that includes home appliances, medical monitoring equipment, lighting systems and power control devices.
ARM stated that its 32-bit Cortex-M0+ processor consumes approximately one third of the energy of any 8- or 16-bit processor currently available, while also delivering significantly better performance.
The company added that this combination of low power, coupled with improved performance, will provides users of legacy 8- and 16-bit architectures, with the chance to migrate to 32-bit devices. By switching over to 32-bit, companies can boost the performance of their devices, without having to sacrifice power consumption or area since the new processor cores measures a mere 1 mm by 1 mm in size.
Early adopters (licensees) of this new microprocessor include companies such as Freescale and NXP Semiconductor.
“The Cortex-M0+ processor is yet another demonstration of ARM low power leadership and its commitment to drive the industry forward towards ever lower power consumption,” said Mike Inglis, EVP and GM of the processor divison at ARM.
In other processor related news, Qualcomm recently announced that it will offer a pro version of the Snapdragon S4 MSM8960 processor, which will feature the Adreno 320 GPU, support for higher resolution displays, as well as hardware and software compatibility with the S4 class.
