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ARM and Sonics ink patent license agreement

Mobile chipmaker ARM has strengthened its position by licensing 138 properties from Sonics Inc, a leader of system IP for cloud-scale systems-on-chip (SoC). This will allow the company to develop chips that are more power efficient and battery friendly.
Written by Adrian Kingsley-Hughes, Contributing Writer
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Image: Sonics

Chipmaker ARM has licensed a patent portfolio currently consisting of 138 properties from Sonics Inc, a leader of system IP for cloud-scale systems-on-chip (SoC), cementing the company's position as a leader in providing chips for connected devices.

ARM intends to implement the portfolio, much of which is related to the development and implementation of on-chip interconnect products used in SoCs.

"Moving the SoC market forward is critical to our mutual customer base," said Grant Pierce, Sonics CEO. "This agreement with ARM demonstrates our ongoing commitment to make SoC design easier for our customers. Working in partnership with ARM, Sonics will continue to deliver innovative solutions that address some of today's most difficult challenges when building advanced SoCs. We welcome our enhanced relationship with ARM, and look forward to providing products in support of the company's large ecosystem."

Also critical to ARM is Sonics' next generation advanced power management technologies, which the company hopes will deliver "disruptive levels of power savings through dark silicon techniques", by more closely integrating system processors, on-chip networks, and the attached IP subsystems and cores.

This in turn means increased battery life for consumers.

"A broad IP ecosystem is critical for the successful deployment of SoCs," said Tom Cronk, executive vice president and general manager, Processor Division, ARM. "The agreement to license Sonics' interconnect patents, and to support Sonics on their next-generation interconnect and low power management is an important step in strengthening the ecosystem. Sonics and ARM have a clear vision for the future of IP technology, which we look forward to realizing together."

Sonics, which was founded in 1966, claims to have more than 138 patent properties and that its technologies are embedded into more than two billion chips worldwide.

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