Rohm is planning a push in to the market for very low power microcontrollers and has licensed the ARM Cortex-M0 processor for product development.
Target markets are automotive, metering and medical healthcare applications.
Cortex-M0, which was first introduced just a year ago, is reputed to be ARM's most popular core right now.
Its attraction is its very low power consumption even for an ARM processor and its small size. It is a stripped-down 32-bit core, with only 12,000 gates, is aimed at replacing 8-bit and 16-bit processors.
"It has enabled us to secure design wins in new market areas, including mixed signal, touch-screen control, flash card, system-on-chip control and finite state-machine replacement," said ARM.
Licensees include NXP,Triad, Melfas and austriamicrosystems.
Rohm took its first ARM licence in 1996 when licensed the ARM7TDMI processor.
In 2002 it also licensed ARM9 and ARM1026 processors.