In an aspect of the disclosure, a method and an apparatus are provided. The apparatus may be a content addressable memory. The content addressable memory includes a plurality of memory sections each configured to store data. Additionally, the content addressable memory includes a comparator configured to compare the stored data in each of the plurality of memory sections with search input data. The comparison may be in a time division multiplexed fashion. The comparator may be configured to compare the stored data in each of the plurality of memory sections with search input data in a corresponding one of a plurality of memory access cycles. The content addressable memory may include a state machine configured to control when the comparator compares the stored data in each of the plurality of memory sections with search input data based on a state of the state machine.