Zilog Inc lost control of the Z80 microprocessor derivatives market years ago, and at the end of the Z80’s heyday, manufacturers were using far more compatible parts made by other companies than they were original Zilog parts. Now Zilog has had to go to Kawasaki Steel Corp to recover its birthright – it has bought a licence to the design of the Kawasaki KC80, described as an enhanced high performance 8-bit microprocessor that expands the Z80 family. The two will also develop new Superintegration products that use the KC80 as a processor core for application-specific parts. The KC80 internal architecture contains a 16-bit arithmetic-logic unit that operates at a maximum of two cycles, and lowers overall system costs by using slower, less expensive memory speeds. The KC80 offers fully static design and low power consumption to appeal to the portable market, and will be designed into computer peripherals such as high-end modems and printers as well as consumer products that currently use the Z80. Financial terms were not disclosed.
