In order to satisfy processing requirements of an image manipulation and printing system incorporating a microelectromechanical printhead, a very long instruction word (VLIW) vector processor printhead controller integrated circuit is provided. The integrated circuit includes a number of image sensor interfaces to communicate with various image capture devices that serve the VLIW vector processor and a printhead interface that drives the printhead. The VLIW is itself comprised of four identical processing units that are interconnected by a crossbar switch.