A privately held company incorporated in July 1997, Tensilica is known as the leader and major innovator in configurable processor technology, with multiple patents on its easy-to-use automated processor design systems that let designers quickly and accurately modify the processor and it's companion software development and system modeling tools with exactly the configuration options and application-specific instructions needed. Tensilica’s processors are the engines in system-on-chip (SOC) designs. Tensilica solutions allow designers to create lower power, higher performance hardware and software for their chip designs.

Tensilica has two main product lines: the configurable Xtensa processors and the pre-configured Diamond Standard processors.

• Tensilica’s unique Xtensa processors are designed for high volume, embedded applications. Designers can configure and extend the processor to add memories, peripherals and special functions. A complete software development environment is automatically created to match each new processor configuration. Often design teams are able to replace their RTL designs with Xtensa processors, adding programmability and flexibility to their designs. Tensilica also offers the XPRES Compiler, which automatically creates customized Xtensa processors from standard C/C++ algorithms.
• Tensilica’s Diamond Standard processors are a set of 10 off-the-shelf synthesizable cores that range from area-efficient, low-power controllers to audio and video processors and a high-performance DSP, all of which lead the industry in their respective categories both in lowest power and highest performance. The Diamond Standard processors are supported by an optimized set of Diamond Standard software tools and a wide range of industry infrastructure partners. They are available directly from Tensilica and through a growing list of ASIC and foundry partners.