Creative Tech's survival hinges on China, ZiiLABS' SoC

Ultra low-power consumption
ZiiLABS apps processors achieve ultra low-power consumption through its unique architecture and implementation methodology.

Under the media processing array architecture, "If all you need is only 6 clusters of processing elements, you can turn off the other two clusters you don't need," explained Leow. "There will be no power, and no leakage, either."

More specifically, the design features dynamic voltage and frequency scaling, multiple clock domains, RAM standby and voltage islanding, allowing independent power down of multiple regions in the chip.

Typically, such voltage scaling over multiple clock domains is a hard problem to solve. But Leow claimed, "We have cracked the problem by using EDA tools from EDA companies such as Mentor Graphics, Synopsys and Magma, combined with our own tools."

ZiiLABS offer the ZMS-08 "in volume at under $30," according to Leow. The company is now sampling the chip to certain customers.