Renesas Electronics' SuperSpeed USB (USB 3.0) SATA3 bridge system-on-chip (SoC), part number, µPD720230, has passed the certification testing by the USB Implementers Forum (USB-IF).

Renesas also today announced that AMD has tested and verified chipset compatibility with Renesas' performance-enhancing UASP software for external storage devices.

Renesas has led the industry by introducing the world's first USB 3.0 host controller in May 2009, and the company's lineup of USB 3.0 host controllers has been broadly adopted worldwide with total shipments already exceeding 450 million units.

A newly defined mass-storage class protocol, UASP (USB Attached SCSI Protocol) allows mass-storage devices to operate more efficiently, and therefore take advantage of the increased bandwidth available SuperSpeed Universal Serial Bus (USB 3.0) interface. In December 2009, Renesas released a UASP driver, followed by the launch of a USB 3.0-SATA3 bridge SoC (µPD720230) in August 2011, which was the world's first USB 3.0-to-SATA3 bridge SoC that supports UASP.

Renesas is currently working with chipset manufacturers to ensure that its UASP software is compatible with their chipsets. The UASP driver runs not only on the Renesas µPD720200 USB 3.0 host controller and its follow-on products (µPD720200A, µPD720201 and µPD720202), but also on A70M and A75 AMD Fusion Controller Hubs and its future products.

Looking forward, Renesas plans to expand the industry support and compatibility for the UASP driver by working closely with Intel to ensure full compatibility with their high volume chipsets, as well as their future SOC's.