Working Together

In This Issue
DSP Solutions
High-Powered Ideas - TI's
new TMS320C67x
TI to acquire Amati Corp.

Memory
TI sampling new memory
for volume PCs

Networking
A Switch for the future
ThunderSWITCH II
architecture unveiled

High-performance specialists

Digital signal processors

The digital signal processor (DSP) will have as great an impact on future products as the microprocessor has had the last 10 years.
TI's 'C6x fixed-point DSPs (available now) and 'C67x floating-point DSPs (available next year) are up to 10 times faster than the average general-purpose processor.
DSPs process and accumulate numbers as they go, creating a continuing flow of processing power for an application. Example: A robot without a DSP would have jerking motions; a robot using a DSP would exhibit smooth, human-like motions.
A high-performance DSP can do multiplication in 20 nanoseconds -- the time it takes light to travel about 20 feet. DSPs work so fast that when used in an active suspension system in cars, they sense when the wheel hits a bump and adjusts the ride instantly, before a passenger even feels the movement.
TI specializes in combining DSPs with other chips and software to provide a total DSP Solution for a product designer's specific needs.

Building blocks, integrated solutions

Mixed-signal/analog

Analog is the third largest semiconductor market and in 1997 is the second fastest growing segment of the industry behind microprocessor/controller (includes DSPs).
TI is building technology and market leadership in the mixed-signal/analog market.
TI is growing faster than the market in the mixed-signal/analog segment.
Mixed-signal/analog is more art and less science than digital design. It cannot be done by any designer. It is not as easy to form a startup analog company as it is to form a digital one.
Mixed-signal/analog is the "S" in DSPS.
TI is one of few companies that has the analog elements as well as the signal processors used in mixed-signal designs. Analog is not dependent on one kind of end equipment.