Business highlights
Technology business
Licensing & design wins
Strong and growing licensing activities across all IP families involving many existing and new customers
115 licenses including 51 for PowerVR (37 GPU, 11 video and 3 camera vision IP), 48 for MIPS CPU, 11 for Ensigma RPU (3x last year), two for Ensigma VoIP and three for FlowCloud
Accelerating growth in customer base with new licences involving over 50 partners:
o Existing customers included:- Actions, Allwinner, CSR, Freescale, HiSilicon, Intel, LG, MediaTek, Microchip, Mobileye, Realtek, Renesas, ST and others
o New customers included Atomos, Avago, Ineda, I&C Micro Systems, Lenovo, Toshiba and others
Increasing number of customers signing licenses for IP from multiple families
Licensing activity has resulted in around 60 new SoC design-wins which will contribute to future royalties
Continued active and growing pipeline of prospects across all IP families
Partner chip shipments & royalties
Total partner chip shipments of 1,259m
Significant volume shipments in: all mobile segments (performance, mainstream and entry smartphones); tablet/personal computing; networking & enterprise; industrial; TV/STB & automotive
o Smartphone market continued to grow albeit with lower growth rates
o Average royalty rate maintained at prior year's level due to the mix
PowerVR Series6 graphics shipping in volume across all key segments including mobile, TV and automotive
Growing MIPS volume in developing 32-bit microcontroller and Internet of Things (IoT) markets, with MIPS 64-bit architecture well established in multiple markets
Strong PowerVR video processing IP unit shipments
Pure business
Continues to drive key markets
o Launch of Jongo wireless speaker products in key UK and US markets
o Continued refresh of DAB product line-up
Strategic interest from key players in our wireless and multi-room speaker technologies resulted in a number of licenses signed
Organisational changes to reduce costs and better align with our IP business
Hossein Yassaie, Chief Executive, commented:
"The significant growth in the licensing deal closure and the growing customer base confirm the strong alignment of our technologies to the existing and emerging markets as well as our partners' needs.
"The strong and growing demand across all IP areas, including PowerVR graphics & video, MIPS processors and Ensigma communications coupled with growing trends of customers opting for multiple IP families or IP platforms, validate the strength of our strategy and the relevance of our roadmaps.
"All the indications from existing and new customers are that the alternative that MIPS processors offer is credible, respected and welcome, both for the technological benefits and the much needed industry balance they can help to bring about. The active licensing trends and the strong support from the industry leaders for the recently launched prpl foundation, focused on MIPS ecosystem, are clear indications of our real and continued progress.
"As the licensing deal closures show, the demand for Ensigma communications technology is accelerating. This is driven by the emerging trends in the Internet of Things and home connectivity.
"Whilst there will continue to be fluctuations and changes in the markets in which we operate, we are confident that our comprehensive and complementary IP families, and the solution-centric IP platforms they are enabling, will allow us to take advantage of the numerous growth opportunities ahead."
