AMD today announced the acquisition of Alchemy Semiconductor, an Austin-based startup that has been spearheading the development of the MIPS32™ architecture for the high performance, low-power microprocessor market. Personal connectivity devices such as personal digital assistants (PDAs), web tablets, and portable Internet access devices require increased performance and lower power consumption over current technology offerings to provide consumers the features associated with 鈥渘ext-generation"applications. AlchemyIt's MIPS32-based products are designed to address these types of market requirements.

Alchemy Semiconductor was founded in 1999 by several of the most prominent microprocessor architects and developers in the world, including many members of the design team that created the StrongARM architecture. After licensing the MIPS32 architecture, Alchemy developed multiple ultra-low power, high-performance MIPS-based™ embedded processors that earned industry awards. Alchemy also drove a series of partnerships with technology leaders such as Microsoft, Monta Vista, Philips Semiconductor, Epson and others that increased the visibility of the MIPS architecture within the marketplace.

“We are pleased that AMD has chosen our long-time partner Alchemy Semiconductor - and the MIPS architecture - as a technology platform which will become a key part of its future strategy,"said John Bourgoin, chairman and CEO of MIPS Technologies. 鈥淢IPS Technologies looks forward to working with AMD and others to further drive MIPS-based solutions into an increasing number of markets and applications. I also thank the entire team at Alchemy Semiconductor for their dedication and devotion to the MIPS community.鈥?/P>

鈥淭hroughout its twenty-year history, the MIPS architecture has successfully scaled the entire spectrum of semiconductor designs,"said Dr. Billy Edwards, vice president and general manager of AMDIt's Personal Connectivity Solutions group. 鈥淎lchemyIt's MIPS-based solutions provide an excellent architecture for addressing the performance and power requirements of the emerging Internet access device market. We look forward to expanding upon these current offerings to become a leader in this high-growth market segment.鈥?/P>

About MIPS Technologies
MIPS Technologies, Inc. is a leading provider of industry-standard processor architectures and cores for digital consumer and network applications. The company drives the broadest architectural alliance that is delivering 32- and 64-bit embedded RISC solutions. The company licenses its intellectual property to semiconductor companies, ASIC developers and system OEMs. MIPS Technologies and its licensees offer the widest range of robust, scalable processors in standard, custom, semi-custom and application-specific products. The company is based in Mountain View, Calif., and can be reached at +1 (650) 567-5000 or www.mips.com.