摘要：  筆者最近從中國芯片設計業(yè)者炬力(ActionsSemiconductor)CEO周振宇那里得知，處理器核心供貨商MIPS在中國的業(yè)務團隊最近被大幅度裁員。

關鍵字：  MIPS，芯片，SoC，Imagination

筆者最近從中國芯片設計業(yè)者炬力(ActionsSemiconductor)CEO周振宇那里得知，處理器核心供貨商MIPS在中國的業(yè)務團隊最近被大幅度裁員;因為MIPS現(xiàn)在的老板是Imagination，對于這樣的消息我們或許并不該驚訝，而且在歷史上是有前例可循的。但MIPS中國業(yè)務團隊若是消失，在某種程度上是一個警訊，特別是對中國的工程社群來說。

一方面，MIPS在中國涉足多元化應用領域，從可攜式音頻播放器、平板電腦、服務器甚至超級電腦都可見其身影;另一方面，中國政府對MIPS的支持可追溯至2000年初，中國科學院旗下的運算技術(shù)研究所(TheInstituteofComputingTechnology，ICT)為“龍芯(Loongson，后來正式名稱為Godson)”處理器指令集，開發(fā)“類MIPS”的內(nèi)部微架構(gòu)。

過去幾年來中國政府投資開發(fā)不少手機、PC、服務器與超級電腦應用的MIPS架構(gòu)芯片;在2009年，ICT正式向MIPS取得MIPS32與MIPS64核心的授權(quán)，而2011年8月成立的龍芯科技(LoongsonTechnology)，也繼續(xù)開發(fā)MIPS架構(gòu)的處理器核心。近年來，MIPS核心在以開發(fā)消費性IC為主的中國無晶圓廠設計業(yè)界，頗有與ARM核心分庭抗禮的架式;MIPS的易主是否會使該品牌在中國市場的情勢改變，有待觀察。

炬力同時是MIPS與ARM的授權(quán)客戶;事實上，該公司的第一代平板裝置SoC是以MIPS架構(gòu)為基礎。不過周振宇在接受EETimes美國版專訪時強調(diào)，炬力還是打算繼續(xù)在“成熟”的可攜音視頻播放器芯片產(chǎn)品采用MIPS架構(gòu)，但其瞄準平板電腦應用市場的芯片已經(jīng)完全轉(zhuǎn)換為ARM架構(gòu)。

周振宇透露，他在今年初美國的國際消費性電子展(CES)期間聽過Imagination的演示文稿，但卻因此對MIPS產(chǎn)生更多疑問;現(xiàn)在，許多他熟悉的MIPS中國銷售團隊面孔已經(jīng)不見，更讓問題撲朔迷離。據(jù)周振宇表示，近日一個來自Imagination的代表團會前往珠海拜訪炬力：“我們希望這次會面能為我們厘清很多事情?！彼粲兴嫉氐馈?/P>

這是一臺MIPS架構(gòu)的AndroidIceCreamSandwich平板電腦

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MIPS架構(gòu)在中國市場的未來，是正統(tǒng)性的問題──究竟Imagination會真的幫助MIPS拓展市占率，還是會讓MIPS在中國市場消滅?Imagination的CEO雖然一開始表示會繼續(xù)讓MIPS架構(gòu)“向前邁進”，但他是否會一直信守承諾?

在這方面，我們對于Imagination自家處理器的開發(fā)細節(jié)所知甚少──可能會在對MIPS的收購后整合雙方的工程資源。也許Imagination無意消滅MIPS，但目前看來，該公司的策略應該是想要在偏好采用MIPS架構(gòu)的客戶群中，為自家繪圖處理核心拉抬聲勢。

針對這些說法，Imagination特別提出澄清并重申對MIPS架構(gòu)與中國市場的承諾;該公司銷售副總裁TonyKing-Smith強調(diào)：“真相勝過一切?！?/P>

King-Smith解釋，在Imagination與MIPS合并完成之前，兩家公司都已經(jīng)有團隊進駐中國市場;當雙方整合，會有少數(shù)人員受到影響或是自行離職：“我們試圖將團隊人事變化規(guī)?？s到最小?！彼赋?，目前Imagination：“在中國市場布下重兵。”，該公司上海與深圳據(jù)點的員工總數(shù)約20~30人，包括工程師與業(yè)務人員。

顯然，先前Imagination稱MIPS架構(gòu)“將是我們未來處理器產(chǎn)品的骨干”并非只是場面話;根據(jù)King-Smith的說法，Imagination自家的MetaCPU(32位應用處理器)已經(jīng)運用在特定領域，但該公司的處理器“正在轉(zhuǎn)移至MIPS架構(gòu)”。

King-Smith表示，Imagination的計劃是繼續(xù)推廣從低階到高階的MIPS處理器核心;他強調(diào)，Imagination向來在“核心(cores)”技術(shù)方面很強，而MIPS則是專長于“處理器架構(gòu)”，因此接下來兩家公司團隊合并之后，就會著手將MIPS核心推廣至各種系統(tǒng)應用領域，無論是低階或高階。

據(jù)了解，Imagination已經(jīng)將MIPS處理器產(chǎn)品藍圖提供給特定客戶，包括中國的一些廠商，并簽署了保密協(xié)議(NDA)。King-Smith表示：“MIPS架構(gòu)仍然蓬勃發(fā)展?！倍沂怯梢粋€“大規(guī)模的團隊”負責，其資源最近不但沒有減少反而加倍;他對客戶喊話：“你們對MIPS架構(gòu)的投資是絕對安全的?！?/P>

而King-Smith也透露，Imagination將會在近日于中國各地展開的巡回拜訪行程中，向客戶報告MIPS核心的未來走向。

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Yoshida in China: Imagination's MIPS roadmap

Junko Yoshida

Imagination Technologies reaffirms its commitment to MIPS and China. In responding to my previous blog， "Imagination dumps MIPS sales team in China，" Tony King-Smith， vice president of marketing at Imagination Technologies， vehemently protested. “Nothing is further than truth，” he said. Imagination， now the owner of MIPS， reiterated the company’s firm commitment to China and its MIPS architecture.

He explained that before the merger took place， of course， Imagination already had its own people in China， and so did MIPS. When the companies integrated， a few people were affected and some left the company on their own， he noted. “We tried to minimize" drastic changes in the team， he added.[!--empirenews.page--]

Today， Imagination has “a significant operation in China，” said King-Smith， with a combined team of “20 to 30 people working in Shanghai and in Shenzhen.” The team includes everyone from engineering to support and sales， he added.

Meta CPU to MIPS

Clearly， Imagination’s calling the MIPS architecture “the backbone of our processor offering in the future” isn’t just a platitude. While Imagination’s home-grown Meta CPU (Imagination's 32-bit apps CPU) is being used in specialty applications， Imagination’s CPU efforts “are now migrating to MIPS architecture，” said King-Smith.

The plan is for Imagination to take MIPS CPU cores from low-end to high-end， said King-Smith. Historically speaking， he said that Imagination has been very strong in “cores，” while MIPS is all about “CPU architecture.” The next logical step for the combined team is to take the MIPS-based cores to a broad range of systems applications from low-end to high-end， he explained.

Imagination has been rolling out the MIPS roadmap under NDA to select customers， including some in China. “MIPS architecture is a live development” carried out by “a significant team” whose resources doubled recently， he said. “Your investment in the MIPS architecture is safe.”

Where MIPS cores go next is a part of the discussions on its roadshow in China right now， said King-Smith.

Yoshida in China: Imagination dumps MIPS sales team

Junko Yoshida

Is Imagination actually helping increase the adoption of MIPS， or is it killing MIPS in China?

ZHUHAI， China – When I sat down with Actions Semiconductor CEO Zhenyu Zhou last week， I learned that MIPS’ sales team in China was fired en masse recently.

Now that Imagination Technologies owns MIPS， we probably shouldn’t be surprised at the news. In retrospect， it was downright predictable.

And yet， the disappearance of the MIPS sales team in China is somewhat alarming， especially to the engineering community in China.

For one thing， MIPS has made inroads in diversified Chinese markets--ranging from portable audio players to tablets， servers and even supercomputers. (See Imagination's response here.)

Also， the Chinese government’s support for MIPS dates back to the early 2000s. The Institute of Computing Technology (ICT) at the Chinese Academy of Sciences independently developed “MIPS-like” internal microarchitecture of its Loongson (whose academic name is Godson) instruction set.

Historically， Beijing is also known for having funded MIPS chips for handsets， PCs， servers and supercomputers.

By 2009， ICT formally licensed the MIPS32 and MIPS64 architectures directly from MIPS Technologies. In August 2011， so did Loongson Technology Corp. Ltd.--for continued development of MIPS-based CPU cores.

MIPS has been pitched in recent years as an alternative to ARM--especially to China fables companies developing consumer chips. It remains to be seen whether the recent change in MIPS’ ownership will alter the landscape in China.

Actions Semiconductor is a licensee of both MIPS and ARM. The company， in fact， developed its first-generation SoC for media tablets based on MIPS. In a recent interview with EE Times， however， Zhou stressed that while the company plans to continue to use MIPS for its “matured” portable music and video player chips， Actions is switching completely to ARM for the tablet market.

Imagination comes to Actions

Zhou said that he had the opportunity to attend Imagination’s presentation at the Consumer Electronics Show earlier this year. But he said the meeting raised more questions [about MIPS] than answers.

Now that all the familiar faces on the MIPS sales team in China are gone， Zhou sees matters even less clearly. Luckily， he said， a delegation from Imagination will be visiting Actions in Zhuhai this week. “We’re hoping this will clarify a lot of things for us，” Zhou noted somewhat cryptically.

The future of the MIPS architecture in China is a legitimate question.

Is Imagination actually helping increase the adoption of MIPS， or is it killing MIPS in China? The CEO of Imagination promised initially to keep the MIPS architecture “going forward.” Does that vow still hold?

At this point， we know few specifics about the development of Imagination’s own CPU--possibly merging the engineering resources the company gained from MIPS acquisition. Imagination might not be consciously killing MIPS， but it’s reasonable to assume that the U.K. firm’s current strategy is to gain traction for its GPUs in the companies that favor the MIPS architecture.