TI’s MSP430 MCU Value Line gives 8-bit developers up to 10X performance and 10X battery life and it starts at 25 cents,

Committed to solving the growing performance and efficiency challenges of the 8-bit market, Texas Instruments Incorporated (TI) (NYSE: TXN) today announced the MSP430 microcontroller (MCU) Value Line that offers superior16-bit MCU performance and industry leading ultra-low power consumption at ultra-low 8-bit MCU prices. Starting at 25 cents, the Value Line ensures 8-bit developers no longer need to sacrifice performance, power efficiency or scalability because of price. The roadmap includes more than 100 MCUs to be released over the next 15 months, providing developers with a broad portfolio to best fit their memory, peripheral and packaging configuration needs. The new MSP430G2xx devices are code compatible across the MSP430 MCU platform, enabling easy code migration and upgrades to higher-end devices as application requirements evolve. The new MCUs are also supported by TI’s easy-to-use MSP430 tools, free software and broad third party support network, driving faster time-to-market across a broad range of cost sensitive applications, including safety, security and touch sense.

Key features and benefits of the Value Line

* Up to 10X performance, including true 16 MIPS operation, and 50 percent greater code density, driving increased headroom for functionality over low cost 8-bit MCU solutions
* Five power modes with ultra-low standby power of 0.4 microamps and <1 microseconds wake-up time enable 10X battery life over 8-bit solutions
* Integrated intelligent peripherals, such as 10-bit ADCs, UART, comparator and serial communication, offload CPU tasks for increased power efficiency
* First 27 MSP430G2xx devices are immediately available to order and include up to 2KB Flash and 128B RAM and future devices will include up to 16KB Flash and 512B RAM
* $20 tools and integrated development environments feature full compatibility across MSP430 platform
* Value Line roadmap offers MCUs with integrated capacitive sense optimized I/Os to enable very low cost touch pad implementations