CEVA半路杀出，掷7500万美元抢购MIPS

ARM、Imagination等联合收购MIPS资产和专利已经得到了三方官方宣布，但今天看来，这一切还没有结束。 CEVA公司（位于加州Mountain View），一个DSP IP提供商，拿出了7500万美元的现金表示要从Imagination手里抢购MIPS。Imagination当时宣布用6000万美元的现金收购MIPS股份。 据报道，CEVA的竞标目标与Imagination相同，要的也只是MIPS的资产业务、核心专利，另外接近500项剥离专利仍将以3.5亿美元的价格卖给ARM为首联盟的Bridge Crossing。 CEVA是智能手机IC市场的受益者之一，今年早些时候，手握超过1.5亿美元现金。该公司计划通过扩大其客户基础，让收入来源多元化。 MIPS表示，其董事会正在评估CEVA的建议，后续才能做决定，现在正与CEVA讨论中。 CEVA的DSP内核作为辅助存在MIPS架构的处理器中，与它不同的是，Imagination的图形内核，是与MIPS处理器分别独立的存在。例如，家庭娱乐系统中，CEVA和MIPS内核经常一起使用。但在CEVA比较成功的移动通信领域，MIPS却很少出现。 虽然这次并购的金额似乎并不大，但是，它带来的影响却可能远超过去几年中的一些几十亿美元规模的并购。它不仅将影响到未来处理器市场的竞争格局，更让不同架构处理器之间的关系更加复杂，也许还将影响到未来处理器的发展路径。 编译：Luffy Liu 本文授权编译自EE Times，版权所有，谢绝转载 参考英文原文：Ceva bids for MIPS, by Peter Clarke

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{pagination} Ceva bids for MIPS Peter Clarke LONDON – Ceva, a DSP IP licensor, has offered $75 million in cash for processor IP licensor MIPS Technologies in an attempt to outbid GPU licensing company Imagination Technologies. MIPS (Sunnyvale, Calif.) announced on Nov. 5 that Imagination would acquire outstanding MIPS shares for $60 million in cash following the completion of the proposed patent sale transaction with Bridge Crossing. The competing bid by Ceva (Mountain View, Calif.) is reportedly structured along the same lines as Imagination's (Kings Langley, England). That bid calls for a large proportion of the MIPS patent portfolio to be sold to Bridge Crossing for about $350 million. Ceva has valued the remainder of MIPS at a 25 percent higher value than Imagination did in its bid. The Ceva proposal is still subject to the approval of its board of directors and due diligence, MIPS said. Ceva has emerged as one of the beneficiaries of the changing mobile handset IC market. With more than $150 million cash on hand earlier this year, the company was talking about expanding its customer base and diversifying its revenue sources. MIPS said its board is evaluating Ceva's proposal before deciding which offer to accept. It said it is now in discussions with Ceva. Ceva's DSP cores complement MIPS' architecture processors, but in ways that differ from Imagination's graphics cores that are used alongside MIPS processors. For example, Ceva and MIPS cores are often used together in home entertainment systems, although Ceva has also been successful in mobile communications applications where MIPS cores are rarely found.