IBM licenses rival chip design

IBM has licensed designs from processor technology rival LSI Logic to help ramp up its chips for next-generation communications devices.

Digital signal processors (DSPs) are used to convert analog signals, such as audio, into digital. Big Blue will use LSI's ZSP 400 digital processor core, plus software development and design verification tools, for its custom chips.

Christine King, vice president of semiconductor products at IBM, said: "We're incorporating DSP technology into our complex custom chip offerings to support the move away from standalone components to integrated system-on-chip designs."

LSI's ZSP 400 is a four-way superscalar DSP developed in a five-stage pipeline design that enables it to be used in different manufacturing processes. IBM plans to integrate the ZSP core into its Blue Logic application specific integrated circuit (Asic) library.

IBM will also modify the core to work with the company's on-chip bus architecture, called CoreConnect, which allows customers to design customised chips using an industry-wide library of verified cores.

Kevin Krewell, an analyst at chip consultancy MicroDesign Resources, said DSP core technology is Big Blue's weak spot. "IBM looked to competitor LSI Logic probably because LSI's DSP would fit into IBM's standard cell Asic libraries reasonably well," he said.