MIPS Technologies Announces Availability of MIPS32 4KE Core Family Through Synopsys DesignWare Star IP Program

25,000 DesignWare Users Now Have Access to the Newest Low-Power, High-Performance 32-Bit Core Family from MIPS Technologies

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif.--May 15, 2002 -- MIPS Technologies, Inc., a leading provider of industry-standard processor architectures and cores for digital consumer and business applications, today announced that the newest family of 32-bit low-power, high-performance cores, the MIPS32(TM) 4KE(TM) core family, is available immediately through Synopsys, Inc.'s DesignWare® Star IP library. The 4KE core family includes the MIPS32 4KEc(TM), 4KEm(TM) and 4KEp(TM) cores.

Synopsys' DesignWare Star IP leverages the semiconductor industry's popular IP library and MIPS® 4KE family of cores to offer hardware design engineers worldwide a complete microprocessor subsystem that accelerates design times (see Oct. 2001 press releases).

Hardware design engineers using DesignWare can evaluate design views, including simulation, example timing models and full documentation, for each of the 4KE family cores by visiting www.synopsys.com/designware/mips_4ke.html. Full implementation views, including RTL, can be licensed from MIPS Technologies and delivered by Synopsys. Design and implementation support will be provided by Synopsys.

"MIPS Technologies is committed to easing the process design engineers face in accessing, evaluating and using microprocessor intellectual property," said Mark Pittman, director of business development for MIPS Technologies. "Our partnership with Synopsys and the DesignWare Star IP program not only expands our products' visibility, but also provides MIPS-based products that are optimized for an industry-standard design flow, further ensuring customers get to market quickly with minimal design effort."

"Delivering MIPS Technologies' next-generation 32-bit core family in DesignWare provides users easy access to evaluate and implement these highly configurable and fully synthesizable cores in their system-on-chip designs," said Phil Dworsky, director of applications and marketing, IP & Systems Group, at Synopsys. "Design reuse engineering, combined with the automation of our coreConsultant tool, helps ensure a smooth design flow for DesignWare MIPS 4KE core licensees."

The MIPS32 4KE Family of Processor Cores
The 4KE family of processor cores not only delivers more than 1.35 Dhrystone MIPS/MHz of performance, but also provides many configurable options that allow designers to optimize the core for their applications, resulting in increased performance while reducing die size and power consumption and, ultimately, total system cost. The MIPS32 4KE family of cores consists of the 4KEc, 4KEm and 4KEp configurations. The 4KEc core has been designed for use in cost-sensitive digital consumer applications and contains a memory management unit for supporting multi-processing operating systems. The 4KEm core is equipped with a single-cycle multiply-accumulate unit for efficient execution in broadband access systems. The 4KEp core is used in a variety of low-power communications applications such as highly integrated networking cards and mobile devices. Features such as 128 kilobytes of cache and a coprocessor interface allow users to easily configure a 4KE core to maximize performance in their SOC applications. MIPS16e(TM) code compression can reduce memory requirements by up to 40 percent, further reducing system costs, and extensive clock gating significantly reduces power consumption. The cores' real-time trace capability supports software development and debugging with the industry's most popular tool chains. The 4KE cores include an integrated test suite and will be available in either Verilog or VHDL to licensees through DesignWare.

About MIPS Technologies
MIPS Technologies, Inc. is a leading provider of industry-standard processor architectures and cores for digital consumer and business 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 650/567-5000 or www.mips.com.

Note to Editors: MIPS® is a registered trademark in the United States and other countries, and MIPS32(TM), 4KE(TM), 4KEc(TM), 4KEm, 4KEp, MIPS-based(TM) and MIPS16e(TM) are trademarks of MIPS Technologies, Inc. Synopsys and DesignWare are registered trademarks of Synopsys, Inc. All other trademarks referred to herein are the property of their respective owners.