Winbond Launches Company's First ACPI Power Control IC

Business Wire, Oct 1, 2001

Business Editors/High-Tech Writers

SAN JOSE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct. 1, 2001

Winbond Electronics Corporation, a leading supplier of semiconductor solutions, today announced that it has launched its first "Power Control" IC. The new chip, the W83301R, is aimed at the desktop PC, and embedded systems with ACPI (Advanced Configuration Power Interface) requirements. The IC augments Winbond's well-established line of I/O Controller, Hardware Monitor, and Clock Generator chips designed for use in many applications. The chip is currently available in production volume and is priced at $0.90 U.S. in 1,000 unit quantities.

Computer systems architectures continue to become more complex with CPU and memory speeds increasing ever more rapidly with every technology turn. At the same time, power management is applied to system designs to conserve power and reduce heat. This means that system timing and power control are becoming increasingly more critical to system performance. Therefore, an accurate and reliable power control system is essential. Many system designs use discrete components to implement the ACPI functions. Because of the slight variations in system designs, R&D effort is required to address the power-on/off timing and sequence. This approach creates several problems, including too complex designs, inconsistent designs when different discrete components are used, and difficult to protect the power-managed devices on-board when there is a power fault (e.g. over-current). W83301R provides an accurate, consistent and easy-to-design solution to implement the ACPI specification.

The W83301R supports two configurations modes. The first mode provides outputs to generate 5V(DL) for I/O, 2.5V for DDR/RDRAM(TM) and 1.25V for DDR bus termination. The second mode provides outputs to generate 5V(DL) for I/O, 3.3V for SDRAM, 2.5V for clock generator and 1.8V for chip set.

The on/off transitions of these voltages meet the ACPI specification. The W83301R is the only solution today that supports both ACPI controller and bus termination regulator in a single package. These voltages, except 5V(DL) and 1.8V, are programmable for system performance optimization. The W83301R integrates a charge-pump circuit to drive popular N-channel MOSFETs. Other features include control output to shutdown system power supply and under-voltage detection resulting from over-current. In addition, the soft-start feature minimizes in-rush current while maintaining ACPI state transition timing.

With Winbond's extensive experience in I/O controller design and system integration, the W83301R addresses the ACPI specification and offers customers a flexible, cost effective power management solution.

About Winbond

Winbond Electronics Corporation was founded in 1987 and is based in Hsinchu Science-Based Park, Taiwan. It has since become the largest branded IC company in Taiwan, offering a broad range of PC and peripheral-related ICs, consumer electronics ICs, multimedia ICs, and memory ICs. Winbond is a market leader in the telephone dialer, PC I/O controller, memory, speech synthesizer and MPEG decoder markets. With four wafer fabs currently in operation, the Company utilizes process technologies ranging from 1.0um down to 0.175um. Winbond has more than 4,500 employees worldwide with design centers located in Hsinchu, Taiwan; Shanghai, China; San Jose, California; Austin, Texas; and Herzilya, Israel. World Wide Web WECA home page: http://www.winbond-usa.com; World Wide Web corporate home page: http://www.winbond.com.

Note to Editors: Winbond is a registered trademark of Winbond Electronics Corporation. All other trademarks mentioned herein are the property of their respective owners.

Note: The DL in "5V(DL)" is subscript.