Beceem taps MIPS Technologies' processor cores for 4G mobile WiMAX

BARCELONA, SPAIN: MIPS Technologies, Inc. (Nasdaq:MIPS), a leading provider of industry-standard processor architectures and cores for digital consumer, home networking, wireless, communications and business applications, announced that Beceem, a leading provider of 4G Mobile WiMAX chips, licensed its MIPS32 4KEc synthesizable processor core for next-generation wireless networking products.

Beceem is already leveraging MIPS cores in its industry-leading Mobile WiMAX chips, and is the 4G market leader, reportedly accounting for approximately 65% of the total market.

According to market research firm In-Stat, WiMAX chipset revenue will grow from $127 million in 2009 to $352 million in 2013. In-Stat says that Mobile WiMAX has all but displaced fixed WiMAX in new deployments, and that the entire WiMAX ecosystem is spurred on by emerging applications, such as smart grids and mobile hotspots, with WiMAX-enabled cellular handsets just around the corner. In-Stat points to Beceem as one of the leading chipset vendors in the WiMAX market.

"We have led the 4G Mobile WiMAX chip market since the first deployment in Korea in 2005 and continue to provide the highest performance products in the industry," said Lars Johnsson, vice president of marketing and business development for Beceem.

"Beceem's chips are the benchmark for WiMAX devices in terms of performance, functionality and feature integration, and we are excited to continue to leverage MIPS Technologies' low-power, high-performance processor cores and ecosystem to further extend our leadership in the mobile broadband semiconductor market."

"We are pleased that Beceem, a leading provider of chips for wireless broadband modem products, is leveraging MIPS cores for its innovative mobile WiMAX designs," said Art Swift, vice president of marketing, MIPS Technologies.

"MIPS Technologies has a leading position in many communications and networking markets, including a strong presence in the WiMAX market. As the world transitions to 4G, MIPS has the horsepower needed for new requirements, and with Android on the MIPS architecture, we have multiple inroads into the mobile market."

The 4KEc core gives MIPS licensees the flexibility to optimize applications for performance, size or power consumption, important considerations in WiMAX designs that need real-time performance with minimal battery usage and silicon area.

The 4KEc core can operate up to a maximum frequency of 617 MHz with an area as small as 0.28 mm2, while consuming only 0.07 mW/MHz of power in a 65nm process. Licensees of the 4KEc core are broadly supported by a robust software ecosystem of operating systems, middleware, algorithms and tools for embedded applications, including wireless networking, where the MIPS architecture has long been a leader.