A French semiconductor company is to offer 32-bit secure ARM-based processors.
Inside Secure has taken a licence for the ARM SecurCore SC300 processor for use in IC card controllers for digital security and NFC systems.
“This expands upon the ARM IP licence we inherited when we acquired the secure microcontroller solutions business from Atmel last year,” said Christian Fleutelot, executive v-p digital security and general manager, VaultIC at Inside Secure.
According to Fleutelot, licensing the ARM SecurCore 32-bit processor family IP brings with it small die size, energy efficiency and excellent code density.
“This agreement further underscores the continuing market momentum we have achieved with our 32-bit SecurCore technology as embedded smart card and other technologies migrate to a variety of mobile devices for payment, transit and other secure applications,” said Haydn Povey, director of product marketing, processor division, ARM.
Last summer Inside acquired Atmel’s smart card IC business which has operatyions in East Kilbride, Scotland and Rousset in France.
As part of the deal the French firm got a royalty-based, non-exclusive licence to IP that will support the smartcard business and future product development.
It also entered into a multi-year supply agreement to continue sourcing wafers from the fabrication facility in Rousset, France that Atmel has just sold to LFoundry.