Specifications

The Cortex-A32 processor uses an efficient, 8-stage, in-order pipeline that has been extensively optimized to provide the 32-bit Armv8-A features in the smallest footprint and power.

Information on Cortex-A32.
Architecture 32-bit Armv8-A
Extensions Armv8-A Cryptographic Extension
Multicore 1-4x Symmetrical Multiprocessing (SMP) within a single processor cluster, and multiple coherent SMP processor clusters through AMBA 4 technology
ISA Support
  • AArch32 for full backward compatibility with Arm v7
  • TrustZone security technology
  • Neon Advanced SIMD
  • DSP and SIMD extensions
  • VFPv4 Floating point
  • Hardware virtualization support
Debug and Trace
 CoreSight SoC-400

Start designing now

Arm Flexible Access gives you quick and easy access to this IP, relevant tools and models, and valuable support. You can evaluate and design solutions before committing to production, and only pay when you are ready to manufacture.

Learn more

Armv8-A Cryptographic Extension

The Armv8 Cryptographic Extension provides instructions for the acceleration of encryption and decryption, and includes:

  • Armv8.0-AES, which includes AESD and AESE instructions.
  • Armv8.0-SHA, which includes the SHA1* and SHA256* instructions.

The presence of the Cryptographic Extension in an implementation is subject to export license controls. The Cryptographic Extension is an extension of the SIMD support and operates on the vector register file

The Cryptographic Extension also provides multiply instructions that operate on long polynomials. The Cryptographic Extension provides this functionality in AArch64 state and AArch32 state, and an implementation that supports both AArch64 state and AArch32 state provides the same Cryptographic Extension functionality in both states.

Performance graph on Cortex-A5, Cortex-A7 and Cortex-A32
Characteristics

The Cortex-A32 processor delivers higher efficiency (performance per mW) and higher performance than the Cortex-A7 and Cortex-A5 processors.

The graph depicts relative performance improvements delivered by the Cortex-A32 processor compared to the Cortex-A5 and Cortex-A7 processors across some of the popular benchmarks. The performance comparisons are for the same clock frequency and same processor configurations.

Cortex-A comparison table (Armv7-A)
Feature Cortex-A5 Cortex-A7 Cortex-A9 Cortex-A15 Cortex-A17
Instruction set architecture and extensions Armv7-A Armv7-A
LPAE Virtualization		 Armv7-A Armv7-A
LPAE Virtualization		 Armv7-A
LPAE Virtualization
Pipeline In order In order Out of order Out of order Out of order
Superscalar No Partial Yes Yes Yes
Neon and Floating Point Unit Optional Optional Optional Optional Included
Floating Point Unit only Optional Optional Optional Optional Included
Cryptography Unit No No No No No
Physical Addressing (PA) 32-bit 40-bit 32-bit 40-bit 40-bit
Dual Core Lock-Step (DCLS) No No No No No
L1 I-Cache / D-Cache 4k-64k 8k-64k 16k-64k 32kB/32kB 32k-64k/32k
L2 Cache External L2C-310 Up to 1MB External L2C-310 512kB-4MB 256kB-8MB
L3 Cache NA NA NA NA NA
ECC / Parity   No Yes Yes L2 only
LPAE No Yes No Yes Yes
Bus Interfaces AXI ACE AXI ACE or CHI ACE
ACP Optional No Optional Optional Optional
Peripheral Port     No No Yes
Functional Safety Support          
Security TrustZone TrustZone TrustZone TrustZone TrustZone
Interrupt Controller Optional Integrated GIC v1 (MP only) Optional Integrated GIC v2 Internal Integrated GIC v1 (MP only) Optional Integrated GICv2 External GICv2
Generic Timer No Yes Yes Armv8-A Armv8-A

Cortex-A comparison (Armv8-A)

Feature Cortex-A32 Cortex-A34 Cortex-A35 Cortex-A53 Cortex-A55 Cortex-A57 Cortex-A65 Cortex-A65AE Cortex-A72 Cortex-A73 Cortex-A75 Cortex-A76 Cortex-A76AE Cortex-A77 Cortex-A78
Instruction set architecture and extensions Armv8-A AArch32 only Armv8-A AArch64 only Armv8-A Armv8-A Armv8-A, Armv8.1 extensions, Armv8.2 extensions, Cryptography extensions, RAS extensions, Armv8.3 (LDAPR instructions only), Armv8.4 Dot Product Armv8-A Armv8-A, Armv8.1 extensions, Armv8.2 extensions, Cryptography extensions, RAS extensions, Armv8.3 (LDAPR instructions only) Armv8-A, Armv8.1 extensions, Armv8.2 extensions, Cryptography extensions, RAS extensions, Armv8.3 (LDAPR instructions only), Armv8.4 Dot Product Armv8-A Armv8-A Armv8-A, Armv8.1 extensions, Armv8.2 extensions, Cryptography extensions, RAS extensions, Armv8.3 (LDAPR instructions only), Armv8.4 Dot Product Armv8-A, Armv8.1 extensions, Armv8.2 extensions, Cryptography extensions, RAS extensions, Armv8.3 (LDAPR instructions only), Armv8.4 Dot Product Armv8-A, Armv8.1 extensions, Armv8.2 extensions, Cryptography extensions, RAS extensions, Armv8.3 (LDAPR instructions only), Armv8.4 Dot Product Armv8-A, Armv8.1 extensions, Armv8.2 extensions, Cryptography extensions, RAS extensions, Armv8.3 (LDAPR instructions only), Armv8.4 Dot Product
 Armv8-A, Armv8.1 extensions, Armv8.2 extensions, Cryptography extensions, RAS extensions, Armv8.3 (LDAPR instructions only), Armv8.4 Dot Product
Pipeline In order In order In order In order In order Out of order Out of order Out-of-order Out of order Out of order Out-of-order Out-of-order Out-of-order Out-of-order
 Out-of-order
Superscalar       Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
 Yes
Neon and Floating Point Unit Optional Optional Optional Optional Optional Included Included Included Included Included Included Included Included Included
 Included
Floating Point Unit only N/A N/A N/A N/A Optional Included Included Included Included Included Included Included Included Included
 Included
Cryptography Unit Optional Optional Optional Optional N/A Optional Optional Optional Optional Optional Optional Optional Optional Optional
 Optional
Physical Addressing (PA) 40-bit 40-bit 40-bit 40-bit 40-bit 40-bit 44-bit 44-bit 44-bit 40-bit 44-bit 40-bit 40-bit 40-bit
 40-bit
Dual Core Lock-Step (DCLS) No No No No No No No Yes (in safety-mode) No No No No Yes (in safety-mode) No
 No
L1 I-Cache / D-Cache 8k-64k 8k-64k 8k-64k 8k-64k 16kB-64kB 48kB/32kB 16KB to 64KB 16KB to 64KB 48KB/32kB-64kB 32k/32k-64k 64KB 64KB 64KB 64KB
 64KB
L2 Cache 128KB-1MB 128KB-1MB 128KB-1MB 128KB-2MB 64kB-256kB 512kB-2MB 64KB to 256KB 64KB to 256KB 512kB-4MB 256k-8MB 256KB to 512KB 256KB to 512KB 256KB to 512KB 256KB to 512KB
 256KB to 512KB
L3 Cache NA NA NA NA Optional
From 256kB to 4MB		 NA Optional 512KB to 4MB Optional 512KB to 4MB NA NA Optional 512KB to 4MB Optional 512KB to 4MB Optional 512KB to 4MB Optional 512KB to 4MB
 Optional 512KB to 4MB
ECC / Parity Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes L2 only Yes Yes Yes Yes
 Yes
LPAE Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
 Yes
Bus Interfaces ACE or CHI ACE or CHI ACE or CHI ACE or CHI ACE or CHI ACE or CHI ACE or CHI ACE or CHI ACE or CHI ACE ACE or CHI ACE or CHI ACE or CHI ACE or CHI
 ACE or CHI
ACP Optional Optional Optional Optional Optional Yes Optional Optional Optional Yes Optional Optional Optional Optional
 Optional
Peripheral Port         Optional   Optional Optional     Optional Optional Optional Optional
 Optional
Functional Safety Support Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes   Yes Yes   Yes Yes Yes Yes
 ASIL D systematic
Security TrustZone TrustZone TrustZone TrustZone TrustZone TrustZone TrustZone TrustZone TrustZone TrustZone TrustZone TrustZone TrustZone TrustZone
 TrustZone
Interrupt Controller External
GICv3		 External
GICv3		 External
GICv3		 External
GICv3		 External
GICv4		 External
GICv3		 External
GICv4		 External
GICv4		 External
GICv3		 External
GICv3		 External
GICv4		 External
GICv4		 External
GICv4		 External
GICv4
 External
GICv4
Generic Timer Armv8-A Armv8-A Armv8-A Armv8-A Armv8-A Armv8-A Armv8-A Armv8-A Armv8-A Armv8-A Armv8-A Armv8-A Armv8-A Armv8-A
 Armv8-A