A clock module is coupled in parallel to a number of data processing modules that are coupled in series. The data processing modules can be individually clock-gated. Each of the data processing modules can determine whether or not it can be placed into an idle state. To reduce power consumption, any subset of the data processing modules that are eligible to be placed in an idle state can be clock-gated. The remaining data processing modules can continue to receive clock signals from the clock module and thus can continue to process data.