Arithmetic issues in the calculation of the Singular Value Decomposition (SVD) are discussed. Traditional algorithms using hardware division and square root are replaced with the special purpose CORDIC algorithms for computing vector rotations and inverse tangents. The CORDIC 2 x 2 SVD processor can be twice as fast as one assembled from traditional hardware units. A prototype VLSI implementation of a CORDIC SVD processor array is planned for use in real-time signal processing applications.