Siemens AG of Munich and Berlin and SGS-Thomson Microelectronics SA, Paris and Milan, are to co-operate in the field of high performance microcontrollers with the aim of providing a comprehensive and integrated common series of parts for high-end 8-bit and 16-bit applications: Siemens has developed a proprietary family concept of 16-bit microcontrollers and is currently introducing the first family member, the SAB 80C166 with a performance superior to any other 16-bit controller currently announced or available while SGS has its modular ST9 family, a proprietary architecture with a large number of versions already available, with peripherals, EPROM and EEPROM options integrated on chip; each will second source the other’s parts, and will each continue to support their current microcontrollers families, notably the 8051-compatible family by Siemens and ST6 and ST8 by SGS.
