 Renesas Electronics develops and manufactures semiconductor products that contribute to our customers' business success. We are implementing an Integrated Technology and Device Manufacturer (ITDM) oriented business model that enhances this process through our strength in advanced technology. In pursuit of technical excellence, we are actively involved in research and development (R&D) activities in a wide range of semiconductor technologies that recognize the practical needs of embedded systems for key global market segments. Some of these activities utilize strong links with the research laboratories of Hitachi and Mitsubishi Electric, as well as with various universities and other research institutions.
In particular, we are rapidly increasing our levels of R&D in advanced technology for system-on-chip (SoC) devices. The increases stem from our recognition of the important role that SoCs play in achieving smaller size, reduced power consumption, and lower cost in fast-moving major market sectors such as mobile phones and consumer electronics.
We also have a strong focus on our system solutions business, which works with customers to investigate fields in which the results of our R&D can be applied to advantage. Our aim is to quickly commercialize and bring down the cost of advanced technology in accordance with the ITDM model. One key area now receiving special attention is new technology for processing the growing number of types and expanding volumes of multimedia data accompanying the spread of digital TV and the broadband infrastructure.
This Special Feature section of the Renesas EDGE magazine comprises six articles that present an overview of technology related to the design of digital audio-visual (AV) products. The first is an interview with Kazuhiro Sugiyama from the Advanced Technology R&D Center at Mitsubishi Electric Corporation. Mr. Sugiyama has a deep knowledge of video processing and is one of the principal forms of multimedia data. He summarizes the current state of digital TV technology and the issues it is facing. The next article introduces the breakthrough "Massively Parallel Processor Based on a Matrix Architecture" that Renesas announced at the International Solid-State Circuits Conference in February (ISSCC 2006). We expect this processor to deliver dramatic benefits in the field of multimedia data processing. The final four articles highlight other important R&D results that Hitachi and Renesas revealed at ISSCC 2006 and at the International Electron Device Meeting held in November 2005. |
