SEMICONDUCTOR INTEGRATED CIRCUIT

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To always maximize the capacity of a semiconductor integrated circuit by detecting the increase/decrease in a delay value and controlling the throughput per unit time of an internal logic circuit based on it. SOLUTION: While an LSI 10 is operating, the increase in a delay value due to the temperature increase or the like in an LSI 10 is detected by a delay detection circuit 11. For constantly reducing the processing load per unit time of the LSI 10 in a central control circuit 14 based on the detection result, the processing of an internal logic circuit 16 is allowed to be on standby, a clock to be supplied to the internal logic circuit 16 is stopped temporarily, or the frequency of the clock to be supplied to the LSI 10 is reduced, thus constantly maintaining the internal temperature of the LSI 10 and hence maintaining and controlling the processing capacity of the LSI 10 at a high value on average and hence always maximizing the capacity of a semiconductor integrated circuit.