The present invention relates to a multithread processor. In the
multithread processor, when a cache miss occurs on a request related to
an instruction in, of a plurality of caches arranged hierarchically, a
cache at the lowest place in the hierarchy, with respect to the request
suffering the cache miss, a cache control unit notifies an instruction
identifier and a thread identifier, which are related to the instruction,
to a multithread control unit. When a cache miss occurs on an instruction
to be next completed, the multithread control unit makes the switching
between threads on the basis of the instruction identifier and thread
identifier notified from the cache control unit. This enables effective
thread switching, thus enhancing the processing speed.