Nov. 3, 2009 (PR Newswire) --

SAN JOSE, Calif., Nov. 3 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Atmel® Corporation (Nasdaq: ATML) today announced that the world's first cross-platform mobile phone gaming consoles will be implemented in microSD cards, based on a system-on-chip (SoC) developed by FXI Technologies AS using Atmel's 90nm SiliconCity Flexible Architecture.

When embedded in a microSD card, the FXI die can turn slot-enabled, hand-held devices into high-end "console gaming" platforms. The FXI SoC integrates a 3-D graphics accelerator, interface logic and ARM9(TM) processor that can be seamlessly coupled to the manufacturer's traditional flash memory. Video games played on an FXI-enabled microSD Card allow card vendors and others to offer an extremely compelling gaming experience. MicroSD card-based gaming consoles will be marketed by SD card vendors and gaming content providers, among others, and can be used in virtually any device with a microSD slot, irrespective of its manufacturer or the native application processor.

According to Tom Hackenberg, Senior Analyst at IMS Research, "Annual shipments of mobile handsets that will include MicroSD card slots are expected to reach over 500 million units by mid 2010. Add to this display enhancements, storage increases, video compression and the proliferation of mobile applications and you have a recipe for disruptive technologies, as MicroSD does for handsets, what CDs did for computers."

Isaac van Kempen, FXI's CEO said, "Traditionally, cell phone games have been limited to downloading games that use the same processor engine already in the device. MicroSD cards with FXI's die will include everything - the graphics accelerator, interface logic and high end ARM9 processor within the same microSD that stores gaming and other applications. It will vastly upgrade cell phone performance, while providing consumers a console-class gaming experience."

"Atmel's SiliconCity Flexible Architecture has allowed us to build and package this functionality in a SoC with superior cost, power and performance advantages, but without the expense and long lead-times of a traditional custom ASIC. In addition, since Atmel's SiliconCity Flexible Architecture uses a standardized CAP9 design flow, the CAP9 development kits can be used as a game development platform. In fact, we are distributing the CAP9 board to game publishers and developers, so they can develop their software months before we have the microSD card silicon," van Kempen added.

"Atmel's customizable CAP9 platform and kits for software development and IP creation combined with the Atmel's proven ARM-based IP and Flexible Architecture allows us to create a custom product for a new market segment in half the time," commented Isaac van Kempen, CEO of FXI. "If we had started from scratch without the CAP9 platform, we would be looking at a year-plus development cycle.