Toshiba announces first 1 GHz configurable processor

Tokyo (Japan) - Toshiba said that it has developed the world’s first configurable microprocessor that is running at a clock speed of 1 GHz. The 65 nm chip is designed to be integrated into SoC systems for consumer electronics and embedded devices.

The company promises with the MeP-h1 substantial performance increase over previous chip a generations, which, according to the company, was mainly achieved by increasing the number of instruction execution pipeline stages from five to nine. Unique to the processor is its ability to be customized, for example to reorder buffer circuit that manages and shortens waiting cycles for user extension instructions, Toshiba said.

Based on a 32-bit RISC processor and built in a 65 nm production process, Toshiba aims the MeP-h1at "digital media products," which have to process large volumes of image, audio and video data - such as digital TVs and DVRs.

According to the company, the chip will appear in Toshiba’s products and will also be available for licensing in 65 nm and 90 nm versions.