Now that the Cirrus EP9302 processor has been out about 5 years, we get
asked a lot about lifetime of our boards specifically regarding the
Cirrus processor. In the latest instance, we had a customer from Spain
that was misinformed by his own distributor (Avnet) that Cirrus EP9302
is EOL (end-of-life). What seems to be happening is that many
distributors are being confused by the nature of Cirrus's announcement
of a recent strategy change regarding their ARM product line. We got
the same letter these distributors got and understand why many are
confused as it was worded in the same say nothing, executive
double-speak style typical of company spokespersons.
However, TS has been in direct contact with Cirrus Logic and here's some
facts:
*) Cirrus Logic has indeed stopped all marketing of the EP9302 and will
no longer will support new customers. My theory is that Cirrus got
burned on supporting lots of incompetent hardware and software designers
and over-estimated the capabilities of their typical customer base.
They will still support TS, but probably only because we don't need it
and are an established customer with established technical credibility.
Distributors have been told to not seek out any new design wins with
this chip because there is no longer a support infrastructure at Cirrus
for it.
*) Cirrus Logic has also stopped further development of ARM chips. What
this means is that we probably won't see future ARM processors from
Cirrus. They were really close to releasing a new EP9402 CPU silicon,
but canceled the project at the last minute. (probably because their
mask sets kept failing verification)
*) Cirrus will not stop producing the EP9302. It is produced on a very
common and popular process and they have many important customers other
than TS using it. We were told they will never EOL the chip, but we've
found you can't really trust any more than about 5 years from the last
time a silicon company says "never".
*) Even if they EOL in 5 years, TS will make a last time buy which would
allow us to keep shipping for another 3 years.
So realisitically, there is at least another 8 years left in the TS-7000
product line. The Cirrus processor is still a very competitive chip 5
years after its release. The issue is that distributors no longer have
any incentive to push it and spreading FUD about its demise is natural
albeit untrue.
Hopefully this clears up some confusion.
//Jesse Off
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