Texas Instruments Inc has come up with a new digital signal processing chip which it claims will pave the way for a next generation of applications. The company claims the new 320 C67x DSP chip is the world’s most powerful floating point chip of its kind. It is said to perform at speeds of one gigaflop a second – or 1 billion operations a second – ten times faster than current floating point chips on the market. Texas Instruments says the chip, samples of which will be available in 1998 before general availability in 1999, will be particularly useful in the graphics market, and will see inclusion in next generation applications for the gaming and video conferencing market, among others. The military and wireless telecommunications industry will also find applications for the part, as will home personal computer users, says TI. The chip is capable of supporting higher levels of graphics quality than currently available, but at much lower cost, it says. The floating point processor forms a progression from the company’s existing C6x part, with which it is compatible. Designers will be able to use existing C6x tools to begin development of the C67x systems now, enabling users to start on the development of next generation floating applications. Prices haven’t yet been set but we can apparently expect to see a much cheaper processor that will decrease further as time progresses. Texas Instruments says the new C67x will add a great deal to its strength in this market, and it recently predicted sales of digital signal processing chips to reach 86 million units this year, with the overall market valued at some $5bn (CI No 3,254).
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