Leading DTV IC Supplier MStar Semiconductor Licenses New Processor Cores from MIPS Technologies

MStar Employs MIPS’ Multicore and Superscalar Solutions as it Expands Market Presence

INTERNATIONAL CES, LAS VEGAS, Nev. - January 5, 2011 - MIPS Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ: MIPS), a leading provider of industry-standard processor architectures and cores for digital consumer, home networking, wireless, communications and business applications, today announced that long-time MIPS licensee MStar Semiconductor has licensed the multi-threaded multiprocessing MIPS32® 1004K Coherent Processing System (CPS) and the superscalar MIPS32 74K® core. These cores provide the performance needed for next-generation connected DTV and technologies such as Java, JavaScript, Adobe® Flash® Player and Android.

In its Q3'10 Quarterly TV Design and Features Report, DisplaySearch, a worldwide leader in display market research, noted that MStar continues its position as market leader in flat panel TV IC unit shipments.

"MIPS' cores deliver high performance and power efficiency, supported by a robust ecosystem of tools and software. With our MIPS solutions portfolio, we have a wide range of options for our next generation products. We are working closely with MIPS Technologies to ensure seamless integration of software stacks to create innovative next-generation products," said WK Chia, vice president, MStar.

"We are pleased to work closely with MStar as it expands its market presence with new and innovative MIPS-Based solutions. As leaders in our respective areas of the DTV market, MIPS and MStar are rapidly adopting and optimizing technologies and platforms that are key to the next generation of smart, connected devices. With these products, we're focused on delivering compelling and exciting entertainment and communications experiences for consumers," said Art Swift, vice president of marketing and business development for MIPS Technologies.

About the MIPS32 1004K CPS

The 1004K CPS is the industry's first multi-threaded multiprocessor IP core. Leveraging the multi-threading capability, the 1004K CPS achieves over 2.9 CoreMark /MHz per core, putting it among the highest scores available in the database of tested cores on the Coremark.org website. Couple this performance with the small size and low-power implementation, and the 1004K series provides one of the most performance/power efficient solutions in the industry. The 1004K CPS is available with (1004Kf) or without (1004Kc) hardware floating point unit support.

About the MIPS32 74K Core Family

The MIPS32 74K core family provides essential advantages for high-performance SoC design, while significantly reducing overall die area, cost, and power consumption. The 74K core family is based on a superscalar microarchitecture with out-of-order instruction dispatch, and a deep pipeline for achieving top synthesizable frequencies. The innovative embedded microarchitecture also incorporates the MIPS DSP Application Specific Extension (ASE) Rev2, which when coupled with a dual-issue 74K microarchitecture, boosts signal processing performance. Recent enhancements to the 74K core family have improved performance on web-connected applications such as web browsers by 20-30 percent. The 74K core is available with (74Kf) or without (74Kc) hardware floating point unit support.

About MStar Semiconductor

MStar Semiconductor, Inc. is a professional IC design house, and is dedicated in providing mixed-mode integrated circuit technologies. By combining semiconductor design expertise and advanced proprietary technologies, MStar delivers a broad line of products: multimedia, wireless communications ICs, general-purpose mixed-mode ICs, and Intellectual Property (IP) development services. Backed by a very experienced mixed-mode R&D team (members have years of experience in mixed-mode design), MStar is able to leverage its know-how in mixed-mode processing to deliver products, which facilitates its diversified range of semiconductor solutions. For more information, visit www.mstarsemi.com.

About MIPS Technologies, Inc.

MIPS Technologies, Inc. (Nasdaq: MIPS) is a leading provider of industry-standard processor architectures and cores that power some of the world's most popular products for the home entertainment, communications, networking and portable multimedia markets. These include broadband devices from Linksys, DTVs and digital consumer devices from Sony, DVD recordable devices from Pioneer, digital set-top boxes from Motorola, network routers from Cisco, 32-bit microcontrollers from Microchip Technology and laser printers from Hewlett-Packard. Founded in 1998, MIPS Technologies is headquartered in Sunnyvale, California, with offices worldwide. For more information, contact (408) 530-5000 or visit www.mips.com.