Posted on 09/23/2012 9:15:24 AM PDT by Ernest_at_the_Beach
A recent report by BSN has reignited hope that AMD may be seriously considering producing mobile processors through a potential acquisition of MIPS Technologies. MIPS Technologies licence the famous MIPS architecture, which currently powers many networking devices and set top boxes.
MIPS is a RISC (Reduced Instruction Set Computing) processor architecture which was designed at Stanford University, and was first commercialised in 1985. The processor boasted the first non-interlocking pipeline design which allowed for processors to handle pipeline hazards without constantly locking/stalling. It also focused on internal simplicity to allow pipeline stages to be performed over one clock cycle, unlike previous designs which would split parts such as memory accesses over several cycles. This allowed for faster clock speeds and overall improved performance. Many of the innovations that MIPS introduced are part of modern processors today.
The MIPS RISC architecture would allow AMD to compete with Nvidia, who have licensed ARM's RISC architecture for their own Tegra line of mobile parts. ARM is by far the most popular choice for smartphone and tablet SoCs (System on a Chip) due to their high performance and relatively low power usage compared to CISC (Complex Instruction Set Computing) ISAs.
(Excerpt) Read more at atomicmpc.com.au ...
I had MIPS stock last year holding for a buyout and finally moved on. Maybe I should grab some now and do the “wait an see” thing.
Grasping at straws it sounds like. MIPS was a big idea in its day but its day was a while ago.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.