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Freescale Semiconductor, Cirrus Logic Team to Develop Solutions for Growing Digital Utility Meter Market

^{Published on 2010-09-21 22:20:23 - Market Wire}
 

AUSTIN, Texas--([ BUSINESS WIRE ])--Freescale Semiconductor and Cirrus Logic (Nasdaq: CRUS) are working together to provide a proven, turnkey reference design for the growing digital utility meter market. The reference design, which is available today, pairs Cirrus Logica™s CS5463 analog front end (AFE) chip with Freescalea™s 8-bit AC60 microcontrollers (MCUs), giving smart meter original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) a superior solution that allows for increased performance, design flexibility and lower system costs.

"Across all markets, customers value the superior measurement accuracy capabilities and cost effectiveness of our products"

Smart power meters provide an economical way to measure energy usage in residential settings, provide real-time pricing based on demand and minimize energy consumption during peak periods. This enables utilities to reduce their need to build more electrical generation capacity.

A new report from Berg Insight concludes that the worldwide deployment of smart electricity meters will reach 302.5 million at the end of 2015, based on a compound annual growth rate of 31.1 percent between 2009 and 2015. During the next five years, penetration rates for smart meter technology are projected to more than double to nearly 50 percent in Europe and North America, while Asia-Pacific is projected to reach 25 percent by 2015, from less than one percent today. The report anticipates that growth will continue into the second half of this decade, with many markets approaching 100 percent penetration by 2020. Key market drivers include global efforts to upgrade the electric grid, such as the United States' $43 billion energy sector stimulus package that includes $4.5 billion for intelligent grid projects like advanced metering infrastructure (AMI).

Leveraging Cirrus Logica™s long history and expertise in mixed-signal solutions for residential utility metering applications, the CS546X family provides best-in-class energy measurement accuracy for next-generation smart grid devices. As power quality and grid efficiency efforts gain momentum, Cirrus Logic energy measurement chips benefit utility industry customers by generating the high-quality energy measurement data needed to deliver on-demand energy usage information accurately.

aAcross all markets, customers value the superior measurement accuracy capabilities and cost effectiveness of our products,a said Tom Stein, vice president and general manager, Cirrus Logic Energy, Exploration and Lighting Division. aTeaming with Freescale to develop smart meter reference designs will give OEMs a ready-to-use system to complete designs quickly, with significant performance enhancements, design flexibility, lower system costs and faster calibration than SOCs can provide today.a

The Freescale Kinetis portfolio of MCUs gives OEMs the flexibility to choose among a variety of MCUs that are ideal for their system. Freescalea™s MQX real-time operating software and algorithms run on a dedicated digital signal processor and are programmable to run on the MCU. Freescale and Cirrus Logic plan additional single-phase meter reference designs in the future that feature new AFE and MCU products.

"We believe Freescalea™s extensive portfolio of processors with the range of on-board flash memory size, 90 nanometer Thin Film Storage technology and metering-specific features built in will give our customers the ultimate flexibility to address various meter types and topologies and provide them with a ready platform for their smart energy products,a said Aiden Mitchell, director of Industrial and Multi-market MCUs for Freescalea™s Microcontroller Solutions Group.

Pricing and Availability

Freescale Kinetis MCUs and Cirrus Logic CS546X energy measurement ICs are available now. For more information, go to [ www.freescale.com/smartmeter ] or [ www.cirrus.com ].

About Cirrus Logic

Cirrus Logic develops high-precision, analog and mixed-signal integrated circuits for a broad range of innovative customers. Building on its diverse analog and signal-processing patent portfolio, Cirrus Logic delivers highly optimized products for a variety of audio and energy-related applications. The company operates from headquarters in Austin, Texas, with offices in Tucson, Ariz., Europe, Japan and Asia.

About Freescale Semiconductor

Freescale Semiconductor is a global leader in the design and manufacture of embedded semiconductors for the automotive, consumer, industrial and networking markets. The privately held company is based in Austin, Texas, and has design, research and development, manufacturing or sales operations around the world. [ http://www.freescale.com ]

Safe Harbor Statement

Except for historical information contained herein, the matters set forth in this news release contain forward-looking statements, including Freescale and Cirrus Logica™s future plans for additional single-phase meter reference designs. In some cases, forward-looking statements are identified by words such as aexpect,a aanticipate,a atarget,a aproject,a abelieve,a agoals,a aopportunity,a aestimates,a aintend,a and variations of these types of words and similar expressions. In addition, any statements that refer to our plans, expectations, strategies or other characterizations of future events or circumstances are forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements are based on our current expectations, estimates and assumptions and are subject to certain risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially.These risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, the overall conditions in the semiconductor market and customer demand for these products, and the risk factors listed in Cirrus Logica™s Form 10-K for the year ended March 27, 2010, and in our other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, which are available at [ www.sec.gov ].

Freescale, the Freescale logo, MQX are trademarks of Freescale Semiconductor, Inc., Reg. U.S. Pat. & Tm. Off. Cirrus Logic and Cirrus are trademarks of Cirrus Logic Inc. All other product or service names are the property of their respective owners.

© 2010 Freescale Semiconductor, Inc.