摘要：  笔者最近从中国芯片设计业者炬力(ActionsSemiconductor)CEO周振宇那里得知，处理器核心供货商MIPS在中国的业务团队最近被大幅度裁员。

关键字：  MIPS，芯片，SoC，Imagination

笔者最近从中国芯片设计业者炬力(ActionsSemiconductor)CEO周振宇那里得知，处理器核心供货商MIPS在中国的业务团队最近被大幅度裁员;因为MIPS现在的老板是Imagination，对于这样的消息我们或许并不该惊讶，而且在历史上是有前例可循的。但MIPS中国业务团队若是消失，在某种程度上是一个警讯，特别是对中国的工程社群来说。

一方面，MIPS在中国涉足多元化应用领域，从可携式音频播放器、平板电脑、服务器甚至超级电脑都可见其身影;另一方面，中国政府对MIPS的支持可追溯至2000年初，中国科学院旗下的运算技术研究所(TheInstituteofComputingTechnology，ICT)为“龙芯(Loongson，后来正式名称为Godson)”处理器指令集，开发“类MIPS”的内部微架构。

过去几年来中国政府投资开发不少手机、PC、服务器与超级电脑应用的MIPS架构芯片;在2009年，ICT正式向MIPS取得MIPS32与MIPS64核心的授权，而2011年8月成立的龙芯科技(LoongsonTechnology)，也继续开发MIPS架构的处理器核心。近年来，MIPS核心在以开发消费性IC为主的中国无晶圆厂设计业界，颇有与ARM核心分庭抗礼的架式;MIPS的易主是否会使该品牌在中国市场的情势改变，有待观察。

炬力同时是MIPS与ARM的授权客户;事实上，该公司的第一代平板装置SoC是以MIPS架构为基础。不过周振宇在接受EETimes美国版专访时强调，炬力还是打算继续在“成熟”的可携音视频播放器芯片产品采用MIPS架构，但其瞄准平板电脑应用市场的芯片已经完全转换为ARM架构。

周振宇透露，他在今年初美国的国际消费性电子展(CES)期间听过Imagination的演示文稿，但却因此对MIPS产生更多疑问;现在，许多他熟悉的MIPS中国销售团队面孔已经不见，更让问题扑朔迷离。据周振宇表示，近日一个来自Imagination的代表团会前往珠海拜访炬力：“我们希望这次会面能为我们厘清很多事情。”他若有所思地道。

这是一台MIPS架构的AndroidIceCreamSandwich平板电脑

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MIPS架构在中国市场的未来，是正统性的问题──究竟Imagination会真的帮助MIPS拓展市占率，还是会让MIPS在中国市场消灭?Imagination的CEO虽然一开始表示会继续让MIPS架构“向前迈进”，但他是否会一直信守承诺?

在这方面，我们对于Imagination自家处理器的开发细节所知甚少──可能会在对MIPS的收购后整合双方的工程资源。也许Imagination无意消灭MIPS，但目前看来，该公司的策略应该是想要在偏好采用MIPS架构的客户群中，为自家绘图处理核心拉抬声势。

针对这些说法，Imagination特别提出澄清并重申对MIPS架构与中国市场的承诺;该公司销售副总裁TonyKing-Smith强调：“真相胜过一切。”

King-Smith解释，在Imagination与MIPS合并完成之前，两家公司都已经有团队进驻中国市场;当双方整合，会有少数人员受到影响或是自行离职：“我们试图将团队人事变化规模缩到最小。”他指出，目前Imagination：“在中国市场布下重兵。”，该公司上海与深圳据点的员工总数约20~30人，包括工程师与业务人员。

显然，先前Imagination称MIPS架构“将是我们未来处理器产品的骨干”并非只是场面话;根据King-Smith的说法，Imagination自家的MetaCPU(32位应用处理器)已经运用在特定领域，但该公司的处理器“正在转移至MIPS架构”。

King-Smith表示，Imagination的计划是继续推广从低阶到高阶的MIPS处理器核心;他强调，Imagination向来在“核心(cores)”技术方面很强，而MIPS则是专长于“处理器架构”，因此接下来两家公司团队合并之后，就会着手将MIPS核心推广至各种系统应用领域，无论是低阶或高阶。

据了解，Imagination已经将MIPS处理器产品蓝图提供给特定客户，包括中国的一些厂商，并签署了保密协议(NDA)。King-Smith表示：“MIPS架构仍然蓬勃发展。”而且是由一个“大规模的团队”负责，其资源最近不但没有减少反而加倍;他对客户喊话：“你们对MIPS架构的投资是绝对安全的。”

而King-Smith也透露，Imagination将会在近日于中国各地展开的巡回拜访行程中，向客户报告MIPS核心的未来走向。

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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.

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.