Chipidea Flexible Mixed-Signal IP Platform Architecture Provides Unprecedented Analog Integration

Update: MIPS Technologies Acquires Chipidea (August 27, 2007)

Innovative Technology Streamlines Electronic System Design for Communication and Consumer Applications by Leveraging the Industry’s Largest Analog IP Portfolio

LISBON, Portugal -- July 18, 2007 -- Chipidea, the world’s leading provider of analog/mixed-signal subsystems and intellectual property, today announced the industry’s first Flexible Mixed-Signal IP Platform Architecture™ (FLEMIA), a highly innovative approach to integrating multiple blocks of analog functionality into a single chip to streamline electronic system design. Leveraging Chipidea’s extensive, silicon-proven portfolio of analog IP, the FLEMIA platform offers an unprecedented level of analog circuit integration and configurability for electronic communication and consumer applications.

The FLEMIA platform leverages Chipidea’s broad expertise in leading-edge power management, audio and USB IP and allows customers to choose the specific functionality needed to address system demands. Chipidea then customizes the mixed-signal architecture to customers’ specifications and makes it production ready for any of the industry’s leading foundries. The platform allows system designers to bypass the time-consuming and expensive process of integrating multiple, discrete analog components and IP cores and helps simplify system design to improve reliability. The FLEMIA platform is designed to allow original design manufacturers (ODMs), digital ASIC vendors, fabless IC companies and ASSP providers to reduce board space and bill-of-material costs in their designs.

“As the list of feature sets for communication and consumer electronic systems gets more complex, our Flexible Mixed-Signal IP Platform Architecture brings game-changing integration capabilities to the industry,” said José Franca, co-founder and CEO of Chipidea. “When creating systems to address emerging market demands and evolving technology standards, designers have a wide range of analog functionality to consider. With the ability to consolidate all of a system’s power management, audio and USB components into a single device, the FLEMIA platform offers the industry a powerful new capability to help address the dynamic challenges in advanced system designs.”

The FLEMIA platform is designed to provide unique programming capabilities to the analog portions of customer designs. Through standard chip programming methodologies, each functional block in the FLEMIA can be precisely configured for each specific system need. This helps designers who must continually add features to basic communication system designs to include WiFi, GPS, audio, battery charging, USB, WiMAX, Bluetooth and other capabilities. Additionally, when a system processor undergoes a design shrink, FLEMIA can be re-configured to provide a new power scheme for the system.

The wide array of integration solutions available through the FLEMIA platform enables system designers to select from many analog IP cores in Chipidea’s catalog and to custom design FLEMIA to meet specific applications or the requirements of ODMs and other system designers. Chipidea provides a complete hardware and software solution to match consumer and communication system needs. The company can also provide the expertise to match the mixed-signal architecture to digital ASICs and offers guidance to help customers select the appropriate analog IP blocks for their designs.

“We’re providing customers with unprecedented flexibility to choose voltage regulators, power converters, data converters, audio codecs and USB connectivity layers, and embed them all into a single chip in order to address the trend toward greater integration,” said Nuno Ramalho, vice president for Audio and Power Management Solutions. “FLEMIA has a customizable serial bus control over each IP core, which allows designers to precisely configure the chip for the application, whether it is for battery-powered mobile communication systems, imaging, multimedia or computer applications.”

About Chipidea

Chipidea is the world's number one analog/mixed-signal merchant technology supplier targeting fast-growing market segments including wireless communications, digital media and consumer electronics. Chipidea supports blue-chip customers across the globe, has an impeccable reputation for delivering high-quality products and is known for its reliable execution. Chipidea licenses its technology to leading companies in all major markets, delivering everything from high-precision, single-function blocks to full analog sub-systems. For more information: www.chipidea.com.