Realtek Standardizes Upon the MIPS Architecture For High Performance SOCs Targeting the Broadband Market

MIPS Technologies, Inc. (Nasdaq: MIPS) today announced that Realtek Semiconductor Corporation, one of Taiwan's leading fabless semiconductor companies, has licensed a wide range of high-performance MIPS32® processor cores which will form the basis for the company's continued penetration of the high-growth broadband access market. Realtek's multi-core license comprises of Pro versions for the 24Kc™, M4K™, 4KEp™, 4KEm™ and 4KEc™ cores.

By leveraging the CorExtend™ capability of MIPS Technologies' Pro Series of cores, Realtek's development team can add their own instructions and functionality to their MIPS-Based SOC, while maintaining compatibility with the MIPS32 architecture. This will help reduce Realtek's overall development costs and speed their design to market by allowing the company's engineers to utilize the broad range of optimized software, IP and tools that form the MIPS® ecosystem. Within the broadband access market, the MIPS architecture has commanding market positions in areas such as cable, ADSL and VDSL modems and WLAN products.

"We are aggressively developing SOCs for a variety of applications where high performance is required to support more functionality, faster data streams, better security features and changing standards. We chose to standardize upon the MIPS architecture for its industry-leading performance, and because the CorExtend functionality gives us the ability to accelerate specific algorithms and create unique, highly differentiated, cost-effective solutions using standard embedded software tools," said Alex Chiu, CEO of Realtek Semiconductor.

"Using their licenses for our 32-bit microprocessors, Realtek can leverage the MIPS architecture's superior performance and flexibility to develop differentiated, low cost solutions for the broadband market," said John Bourgoin, president and CEO of MIPS Technologies. "Realtek is the latest industry leader in the Greater China region to adopt the MIPS architecture for SOC development. We look forward to working with Realtek to ensure our companies' mutual success."

About the MIPS32 24K Family
The MIPS32 24K core family, which includes the 24Kc™, 24Kc Pro, 24Kf™ and 24Kf Pro versions, offers performance from 400 to 550 MHz (worst case) in a 0.13 micron process, the highest frequency available in 32-bit synthesizable cores for embedded markets, while minimizing design time and reducing product costs. Tailored SOC design methodologies, an Open Core Protocol (OCP) interconnect structure, standard libraries and on-chip memories from industry-leading companies help speed time-to-market, an important advantage for a processor core suited to embedded consumer applications such as digital and interactive TVs, set-top boxes and DVD players.

About Realtek
Realtek Semiconductor Corp., founded in 1987, is one of Taiwan's largest and most successful fabless semiconductor companies. Realtek develops ICs and SOCs for communications networking, PC peripherals, digital imaging, and other applications, and is the world's number one provider of Ethernet and Fast Ethernet ICs. In 2001, the company was named as one of Forbes magazine's "International 200 Best Small Companies." Realtek is located in Hsinchu, the "Silicon Valley" of Taiwan. For more information, please visit www.Realtek.com.tw/.

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 +1 (650) 567-5000 or www.mips.com.