NEC has licensed the Xtensa LX2 customisable processor core from Tensilica for use in its mobile phone system-on-chip (SoC) devices.

NEC will develop Mobile Phone SOCs using several different configurations of the Xtensa processor. 

The customisable processor is of particular interest for mobile baseband DSP tasks because they can be optimised with specialised instructions that speed the processing of high-speed, real-time data streams.

“Our Xtensa products are a good match for baseband DSP applications as they can simply be optimised to achieve unparalleled level of speed/power performance,” said Jack Guedj, Tensilica’s CEO.