NXP Acquires BlueStreak Microcontroller Product Line from Sharp

NXP Semiconductors has acquired the BlueStreak microcontroller product portfolio from Sharp Microelectronics of the Americas, the second acquisition announced by NXP this year. NXP now has the ability to manufacture and sell the complete line of ARM7 and ARM9 processor-based BlueStreak microcontrollers, previously offered by Sharp. The acquisition expands NXP's extensive ARM Powered microcontroller portfolio to 50 products—the world's largest portfolio of ARM7 and ARM9 processor-based microcontroller products. The transaction closed on July 3, 2007. Financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed.

"We are proud of this acquisition, which demonstrates NXP's ability to swiftly execute our growth strategy in six chosen market segments, including multimarket semiconductors. It also underscores NXP's commitment to further strengthen our microcontroller product line and grow in particular with Japanese customers," said Hein van der Zeeuw, executive vice president and general manager, Multimarket Semiconductors business unit, NXP Semiconductors. "Through this transaction, customers of the BlueStreak microcontroller product line can have confidence that they can count on continued support from NXP."

"Over the last few years, we've witnessed the rapid growth and wide market acceptance of NXP's LPC2000 and LPC3000 series microcontrollers, which take advantage of the power efficiency and high performance of the ARM7 and ARM9 family processors," said Mike Inglis, executive vice president of sales and marketing, ARM. "The 32-bit microcontroller market is an important strategic area for ARM, and NXP's acquisition of the BlueStreak microcontroller family clearly shows that they share our vision of ARM processor-based microcontrollers representing a global industry force."

Through this acquisition NXP further demonstrates its commitment to change the MCU landscape and establish the ARM processor-based microcontrollers as the industry standard for the 32-bit market. With the addition of the BlueStreak microcontrollers, NXP's portfolio of 32-bit ARM processor-based MCUs will expand to 50 products, enabling customers to select the solution that best meets their needs in terms of price, performance, features and power consumption.

The portfolio will include 11 ARM processor-based MCUs featuring LCD controllers to support graphical displays, including the NXP LPC2478 and LPC2470 announced earlier this year. These low-power microcontrollers are ideal for a wide range of consumer, industrial, automotive and medical applications using LCD panels—from handheld video players and GPS devices to point-of-sale terminals and portable medical diagnostic devices.

The consolidated line of NXP microcontrollers with integrated LCD support now include:

- The widest variation of ARM7 processor-based MCUs with LCD controllers, with peripherals ranging from Ethernet, USB, MMU, CAN and 10-bit ADC
- The industry's first ARM7 Flash-based microcontroller with integrated LCD support, the LPC2478 microcontroller, announced by NXP in February 2007

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NXP Semiconductors