MIPS Technologies Inc, now reporting separately from its struggling parent Silicon Graphics Inc, reported fourth quarter net income of $4.6m yesterday, compared with a $9.5m loss in the same period last year. But worryingly, revenues for the quarter were $11m, 19% down from the same period in fiscal 1997, a somewhat fragile beginning to the chip company’s life as a public company. Revenues for the year were up 41% from last year’s $40.3m to $56.8m this year, and MIPS scraped through a profit of $376,000, compared with a net loss of $40.8m last year. Company officials insisted that the results, together with its shift in focus half way through the year towards digital consumer and electronic markets, and its successful IPO on July 6 through which its raised net proceeds of $16m, all provided it with a strong financial foundation for the future. The proceeds of the IPO will show up in the company’s first quarter. MIPS sold some 48 million of its RISC chips last year, but something over 80% of its revenues were derived from sales of Nintendo 64 games consoles and games cartridges. That puts it at the mercy of Nintendo’s continued success in a notoriously fickle market, and puts a huge pressure on it to conclude negotiations with Nintendo for the use its next generation of technology, something which appears far from certain at the moment (CI No 3,420).
