Architectures eye low-end 32-bit slots

摘要

Competition for sockets at the low end of the 32-bit microcontroller market has intensified as aging architectures such as the Freescale Semiconductor ColdFire/68K and the Rene-sas Technology SH go head-to-head with the increasingly popular ARM camp of licensees. At stake are the processor sockets in a range of industrial, automotive and aerospace applications. MCU vendors are offering the huge installed based of 8-bit users an easy upgrade path to 32 bits, while enabling them to retain their investments in software and development tools. In the process, the low-end 32-bitters will squeeze out the 16-bit generation.