Toshiba Starts Sample Shipments of Second Product in its Smart Motor Control Driver “SmartMCD™” Series

KAWASAKI, Japan--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jun 23, 2025--

Toshiba Electronic Devices & Storage Corporation ("Toshiba") has started sample shipments of “ TB9M001FTG,” the second product in its Smart Motor Control Driver “SmartMCD™ [1] ” series. The microcontroller in the SmartMCD™ incorporates a relay driver [2] function and a LIN [3] transceiver function. The new product can drive relays and control two brushed DC motors and is suitable for controlling brushed DC motors in automotive applications.

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In recent years, as the electrification of automotive equipment has progressed, secondary devices [4] are increasingly required to offer higher performance, enhanced functionality, more compact designs, and fewer components. Toshiba has responded to these requirements, by developing the new product.

The new SmartMCD™ has four built-in low-side drivers that can be used for relay drivers and other applications, enabling forward and reverse control [5] of two brushed DC motors. It also features a built-in microcontroller (Arm ® Cortex ® -M0 core), high-capacity flash memory, two high-side drivers for power-supply applications, a LIN transceiver, and a power supply system that can operate at the automotive battery level. All of these functions are integrated into a compact VQFN48 package (7×7 mm typ.).

In addition to controlling brushed DC motors in automotive applications, such as power sunroofs, electric wipers, power windows, and power seats, the driver is also capable of controlling various sensors and actuators. Furthermore, through LIN control from the main ECU, it can be utilized as a secondary device for a wide range of applications. This enables efficient control of various automotive functions and supports a broad spectrum of automotive applications.

Toshiba will continue to expand its lineup of SmartMCD™ series and will contribute to downsizing of automotive systems and reducing the number of components used.

Notes:
[1] SmartMCD™: A series of ICs developed by Toshiba Electronic Devices & Storage Corporation that integrate motor control functions and a microcontroller.
[2] Relay driver: An electronic circuit designed to safely and reliably operate a relay (electromagnetic switch) that controls large currents using small current and voltage signals from a microcontroller or control circuit.
[3] Local interconnect network (LIN): A serial communication protocol used primarily for communication between electronic control units (ECU) in vehicles.
[4] Secondary device: A device that is responsible for supporting the main ECU.
[5] When using two Single pole double throw (SPDT) relays.

Applications

Automotive equipment

Features

Note:
[6] incECC SEC/DED: Built-in ECC (Error Correction Code) function supports 1-bit error correction (SEC) and 2-bit error detection (DED).

Main Specifications

Note:
[7] ASIL-A: ASIL stands for Automotive Safety Integrity Level, which is a functional safety requirement level defined based on the ISO 26262 standard for automotive functional safety. ASIL-A is the lowest safety requirement level within this classification and is applied when a malfunction of the function is assessed to have a relatively low impact on human life or the vehicle.

Related Contents
Follow the links below for more on the new product.
TB9M001FTG
Follow the link below for more on Toshiba’s automotive motor drivers.
Analog Devices

* Arm and Cortex are registered trademarks of Arm Limited (or its subsidiaries) in the US and/or elsewhere.
* SmartMCD™ is a trademark of Toshiba Electronic Devices & Storage Corporation.
* Other company names, product names, and service names may be trademarks of their respective companies.
* Information in this document, including product prices and specifications, content of services and contact information, is current on the date of the announcement but is subject to change without prior notice.

About Toshiba Electronic Devices & Storage Corporation
Toshiba Electronic Devices & Storage Corporation, a leading supplier of advanced semiconductor and storage solutions, draws on over half a century of experience and innovation to offer customers and business partners outstanding discrete semiconductors, system LSIs and HDD products.

Its 19,400 employees around the world share a determination to maximize product value, and to promote close collaboration with customers in the co-creation of value and new markets. The company looks forward to building and to contributing to a better future for people everywhere.

Find out more at https://toshiba.semicon-storage.com/ap-en/top.html

Toshiba: TB9M001FTG, the second product in the Smart Motor Control Driver “SmartMCD™” series.

States will share $10 billion for rural health care next year in a program that aims to offset the Trump administration's massive budget cuts to rural hospitals, federal officials announced Monday.

But while every state applied for money from the Rural Health Transformation Program, it won't be distributed equally. And critics worry that the funding might be pulled back if a state's policies don't match up with the administration's.

Officials said the average award for 2026 is $200 million, and the fund puts a total of $50 billion into rural health programs over five years. States propose how to spend their awards, and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services assigns project officers to support each state, said agency administrator Dr. Mehmet Oz.

“This fund was crafted as part of the One Big Beautiful Bill, signed only six months ago now into law, in order to push states to be creative," Oz said in a call with reporters Monday.

Under the program, half of the money is equally distributed to each state. The other half is allocated based on a formula developed by CMS that considered rural population size, the financial health of a state’s medical facilities and health outcomes for a state’s population.

The formula also ties $12 billion of the five-year funding to whether states are implementing health policies prioritized by the Trump administration's “Make America Healthy Again” initiative. Examples include requiring nutrition education for health care providers, having schools participate in the Presidential Fitness Test or banning the use of SNAP benefits for so-called junk foods, Oz said.

Several Republican-led states — including Arkansas, Iowa, Louisiana, Nebraska, Oklahoma and Texas — have already adopted rules banning the purchase of foods like candy and soda with SNAP benefits.

The money that the states get will be recalculated annually, Oz said, allowing the administration to “claw back” funds if, for example, state leaders don't pass promised policies. Oz said the clawbacks are not punishments, but leverage governors can use to push policies by pointing to the potential loss of millions.

“I've already heard governors express that sentiment that this is not a threat, that this is actually an empowering element of the One Big Beautiful Bill," he said.

Carrie Cochran-McClain, chief policy officer with the National Rural Health Association, said she’s heard from a number of Democratic-led states that refused to include such restrictions on SNAP benefits even though it could hurt their chance to get more money from the fund.

“It’s not where their state leadership is,” she said.

Oz and other federal officials have touted the program as a 50% increase in Medicaid investments in rural health care. Rep. Don Bacon, a Republican from Nebraska who has been critical of many of the administration’s policies but voted for the budget bill that slashed Medicaid, pointed to the fund when recently questioned about how the cuts would hurt rural hospitals.

“That’s why we added a $50 billion rural hospital fund, to help any hospital that’s struggling,” Bacon said. “This money is meant to keep hospitals afloat.”

But experts say it won't nearly offset the losses that struggling rural hospitals will face from the federal spending law's $1.2 trillion cut from the federal budget over the next decade, primarily from Medicaid. Millions of people are also expected to lose Medicaid benefits.

Estimates suggest rural hospitals could lose around $137 billion over the next decade because of the budget measure. As many as 300 rural hospitals were at risk for closure because of the GOP’s spending package, according to an analysis by The Cecil G. Sheps Center for Health Services Research at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

“When you put that up against the $50 billion for the Rural Health Transformation Fund, you know — that math does not add up,” Cochran-McClain said.

She also said there's no guarantee that the funding will go to rural hospitals in need. For example, she noted, one state’s application included a proposal for healthier, locally sourced school lunch options in rural areas.

And even though innovation is a goal of the program, Cochran-McClain said it's tough for rural hospitals to innovate when they were struggling to break even before Congress’ Medicaid cuts.

“We talk to rural providers every day that say, ‘I would really love to do x, y, z, but I’m concerned about, you know, meeting payroll at the end of the month,’” she said. “So when you’re in that kind of crisis mode, it is, I would argue, almost impossible to do true innovation.”

The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

FILE - Mehmet Oz, administrator of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, speaks during an event about drug prices with President Donald Trump, Thursday, Nov. 6, 2025, in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci, File)