MIPS Technologies Inc. is upgrading two of its cores and introducing a new instruction set architecture. The products aim to expand the company’s relatively small presence in 32-bit microcontrollers and leverage its strength in wired consumer systems to attack sockets in wireless devices.
MIPS disclosed details of a new M14K core, an upgrade of its M4K core for microcontrollers and a new M14Kc core, an upgrade of its M4KE used in more sophisticated consumer systems. Both support as an option a new microMips instruction set that the company claims provides 32-bit performance at 16-bit code compression levels.
The company is hungry for growth. Its revenues flattened, royalties declined and profits largely evaporated since 2007. In its most recent quarterly results announced last week, MIPS did eke out a small profit and see revenue growth from the prior quarter, albeit still down from a year ago.
