Philips' Glue Chip 4 for PC Motherboards

The processor may be the heart of a PC, but without additional chips to hold a motherboard's circuitry together, the data just doesn't get pumped through the system. In that vein, Philips just announced its new Glue Chip 4 (PCA9504A), an ASIC that the company says reduces logic part count, overall component cost, and board-space requirements for PC designers and manufacturers. Glue Chip 4 supports Intel processors and other chipsets that require external circuitry in order to function properly. The new chip's functions include meeting timing specifications, buffering signals, and switching between power wells. The PCA9504A integrates miscellaneous motherboard logic and analog functions into a single 56-pin TSSOP (plastic thin shrink small outline package) device. The chip typically resides on the motherboard close to the I/O controller Hub (ICH) and integrates dual strapping, selectable feature sets, audio-disable/mute circuit, power supply turn-on circuitry, extra general-purpose logic gates, and tri-state buffers for test. The PCA9504A Glue Chip 4 is now in high-volume production and is available at a price of $0.90 each in quantities of 100,000. More specs can be found on Philips' website .