Recently, NXP Microcontroller Business 2019 Media Exchange Conference was held in Beijing. At the conference, Geoff Lees, general manager of NXP's microcontroller (MCU) division, and his team shared their views on microcontrollers, edge computing and machine learning, and introduced the NXP microcontroller business. Development strategy and the latest i.MX processor products.

As a widely used semiconductor component, microcontrollers can be seen almost everywhere in our lives, such as refrigerators, players, stereos, washing machines, automobiles, industrial machines, drones, wearables, etc. To its figure. Since its introduction, microcontrollers have been very popular with customers. It is not only cost-effective, but also more powerful. From the early 8-bit processors to 16-bit processors to 32-bit processors and 64-bit processors, the market for microcontrollers has continued to grow rapidly.

In the past year, NXP has expanded its software and software engineering teams in Beijing. It currently has more than 200 engineers in the Beijing department; it has increased the capabilities of machine learning, artificial intelligence and edge computing based on the capabilities of the original department. Established a laboratory in Beijing to facilitate direct cooperation with customers on specific projects; and cooperation with Chinese universities.

Geoff Lees said that the Chinese market has always been NXP's strategic focus, and product definition, design and manufacturing for the Chinese market has been the subject of constant emphasis in the past.

The development environment of eIQ machine learning and artificial intelligence was introduced to the market, and its technology was applied to the joint laboratory of Tianjin University to train students of Tianjin University. “In 2019, our actions were more than ever. Intensive, Geoff Lees said, at the same time, the following products were introduced:

i.MX 7ULP:

i.MX 7ULP is a new "cross-border processor" concept, Geoff Lees said, which is the lowest power consumption of the NXP application processor, which can achieve the power consumption of the previous microcontroller level. Its most important feature is that it has two cores, one Cortex-A7 core, one Cortex-M4 core, and two cores in two completely independent domains. The Cortex-A7 runs the Linux operating system, and the Cortex-M4 is a very low-power core. In most cases, the Cortex-A7 core is turned off, and the Cortex-M4 will handle some basic tasks to keep the device running at low power. A good application scenario for i.MX 7ULP is the smart watch, which guarantees its ultra-low power operation for longer battery life.

NXP's global vice president and general manager of product line Yu Xiujie said that i.MX 7ULP has already started production, and has sold more than 1 million in a short period of time, which has been very successful.

i.MX RT1010:

This is a chip that is designed in China and produced in China. It is the first product of NXP to be produced at SMIC Beijing Yizhuang Factory, using 40nm process technology.

For this "6 8-8" product, Zeng Jintao, global product director of NXP Microcontroller Division, explained, "This is not the traditional MCU below 1 yuan that everyone has seen. This MCU can reach 500MHz. For example, in the previous Intel Pentium, the i.MX RT1010 has higher computing power than the Pentium. "6 pieces of 8 hair 8" products can achieve such performance, which was not available in the market.

In comparison, the current market to reach 500MHz is either very expensive, up to five or six dollars, or even eight or nine dollars, or small things, only to reach the level of 100MHz or below 100MHz. Zeng Jintao said that at this price, the i.MX RT1010 is the first.

Whether NXP will have more new series of cross-border processors in the future, NXP's vice president, general manager of LPC and low-power microcontroller product line Yu Xiujie gave a positive answer.