NEC Electronics today introduced the M2 system LSI chip that integrates third generation (3G to 3.5G) W-CDMA and HSDPA communications technologies, with low power technologies. The chip utilizes a 3.5G digital baseband (DBB) technology developed by Adcore-Tech, the mobile communications joint venture established in August 2006. The M2 chip is part of NEC Electronics' Medity series of mobile handset solutions, and is the successor to the "M1" chip introduced in September 2006. While the M1 was based on the ARM926EJ-STM CPU core, the M2 chip utilizes the more advanced ARM1176JZF-STM core, promising to deliver a significant improvement in performance.

Through a combination of several advanced technologies, power consumption was reduced by 50 percent. This improvement was made possible by a host of advancements in circuit design and layout, including dynamic frequency scaling, automatic hierarchical clock control, LCD Direct Path technology, on-chip power switch technology, Quick Recovery technology. In addition, the use of 65-nanometer process technologies such as Multi-Vt transistor technology, and back-bias technique also contributed to lower power consumption. NEC Electronics also utilized LongRun2 technology licensed from Transmeta.

Samples of the M2 chip are available now priced at US$45. Volume production is scheduled to begin in October 2007, and reach approximately 1 million units per month by 2008.