The move comes one month after Altera Corp.--a rival of Xilinx--disclosed it was negotiating with Motorola Inc. for access to its 32-bit PowerPC core, which would be used in "system-on-a-programmable-chip" (SoPC) solutions (see June 12 story).

Under their agreement announced today, IBM and Xilinx said they are jointly developing embed processor capability for Xilinx's Virtex FPGAs. The new FPGAs will combine the processing power of RISC with customizable logic for fast development of IC functions, said the partners.

"IBM and Xilinx are committed to meeting each customer's unique blend of requirements for cost, design time and individualized function," said John Kelly, general manager of IBM Microelectronics. "This requires a variety of chip design options, from standard, off-the-shelf parts to FPGAs to ASICs. This agreement creates both a new approach in chip design, as well as a unique collaboration between the world's leading ASIC and programmable logic providers."

The new devices will initially be fabricated by IBM for Xilinx using advanced technology, including copper interconnects. Xilinx--a technology partner and major foundry customer of United Microelectronics Corp. (UMC) in Taiwan--said the IBM agreement will broaden its manufacturing volume and geographic diversity and leverage common foundry manufacturing processes. Xilinx and IBM said they plan to explore other areas of cooperation that could benefit customers of both companies.

Availability dates for the new PowerPC-embedded FPGAs will be announced later this year by Xilinx.

"The combination of technologies will lead to a new level of performance and flexibility in the semiconductor market," said Wim Roelandts, president and CEO of Xilinx in San Jose. "IBM's process technology is the most advanced in the industry and the PowerPC architecture has become the standard in communications enabling us to deliver the highest performance and density products into the market at the leading edge of technology."