CEVA Unveils a New Addition to the Powerful CEVA-X DSP Family

SPRING PROCESSOR FORUM - SAN JOSE, Calif. - May 16, 2005 - CEVA,
Inc. (NASDAQ: CEVA; LSE: CVA), the leading licensor of digital signal
processing (DSP), multimedia and communications platforms to the
semiconductor industry, today unveiled the newest addition to its
licensable CEVA-X™ DSP architecture - the CEVA-X1621™. The CEVA-X1621
combines the high performance of the CEVA-X1620™ DSP with an advanced,
configurable cache memory subsystem. The CEVA-X1621 targets
System-on-a-Chip (SoC) designs for next-generation products including 3G
handsets, smartphones, portable media players, digital televisions,
internet protocol television (IPTV) and set-top boxes.

The CEVA-X1621 is a high-performance, low-power, fully synthesizable
DSP offering several key benefits, including:

  • small die size and low cost - by reducing the amount of on-chip
    memory; application memory size can be reduced as much as 50 percent

  • low power consumption - using smart power management mechanisms to
    reduce memory consumption, systems can achieve longer battery life and
    better heat dissipation

  • customizable - the DSP can be configured to meet different
    performance, area and power consumption targets

  • shorter time to market - transparency of memory architecture
    simplifies and accelerates software development

  • integrated multimedia support - dedicated multimedia instructions
    and mechanisms greatly accelerate video and image processing.

"CEVA-X1621 addresses key challenges for the upcoming generation of
mobile and home entertainment products," said Will Strauss, founder and
president, Forward Concepts. "The CEVA-X1621 combines the proven
performance of the CEVA-X1620 DSP with an advanced cache memory subsystem
to accommodate customers who need a high-performance, low-power DSPs with
decreased die size and cost. The cache subsystem built into the
CEVA-X1621, enhances the processor's inherent support for OS and control
functions, in addition to signal processing."

The newly-developed memory subsystem features custom configurations
that include level-one (L1) data and instruction caches and an optional
level-two (L2) unified cache, as well as optional L1 and L2 local
memories, all available in multiple sizes. Performance enhancements
include support for miss-pipelining, non-blocking L2 unified cache and
deterministic hardware and software pre-fetches. The system also supports
fast data transfers minimizing memory stalls. Multimedia support is
provided by two-dimensional (2-D) cache pre-fetches along with 2-D DMA
transfers. Memory protection provides software stability and security.

The CEVA-X1621 DSP features a 16-bit fixed-point dual-MAC very long
instruction word (VLIW) architecture combined with a single instruction
multiple data (SIMD) multimedia operation, up to eight instructions
executed in parallel, variable instruction widths (16-bit or 32-bit) and
4GB of byte-addressable memory space. A wealth of multimedia instructions
and mechanisms built into the architecture enable the processor to
dramatically accelerate advanced video compression standards, such as
MPEG4 and H.264, on a pure software platform. Moreover, the innovative
reusable architecture of the CEVA-X provides customers complete deployment
flexibility within a unified architecture framework.

"Our continued investment in the CEVA-X product family underscores our
commitment to the ongoing development of dynamic and configurable DSP
technology that caters to the specific needs of our customers' markets,"
said Gideon Wertheizer, CEO of CEVA, Inc. "The addition of the CEVA-X1621
to our DSP roadmap will further strengthen our position as a leader in
providing multimedia, communication and DSP solutions to semiconductor
manufacturers."

More details on the CEVA-X1621 DSP core will be unveiled at Spring
Processor Forum, taking place in San Jose, Calif., May 16-19. CEVA will
present on Wednesday, May 18 during the "Advances In DSP Engines" session.
More information on CEVA and its products can be found at
ceva-dsp.com.

About CEVA, Inc.

Headquartered in San Jose, Calif., CEVA is the leading licensor of digital signal processor (DSP) cores, multimedia, GPS and storage platforms to the semiconductor industry. CEVA licenses a family of programmable DSP cores, associated SoC system platforms and a portfolio of application platforms including multimedia, audio, Voice over Packet (VoP), GPS location, Bluetooth, Serial Attached SCSI and Serial ATA (SATA). In 2005 CEVA's IP was shipped in over 115 million devices. CEVA was created through the merger of the DSP licensing division of DSP Group and Parthus Technologies. For more information, visit ceva-dsp.com.

A PDF copy of this press release is also available here