Following a successful IPO (CI No 3,443) and announcement of a fourth quarter profit (CI No 3,459), MIPS Technologies Inc, has been awarded a ‘strong buy’ rating by the technology research group at Credit Suisse First Boston Corp. MIPS, formerly under the wing of Silicon Graphics Inc, sold 48 million RISC chips last year – nearly 50% of the entire market. However, 80% of the company’s revenues were from Nintendo 64 games console software and hardware sales. The Credit Suisse report claims that this figure should be down to 50% in 1999 as the company ‘transitions its focus’ and adds ‘new license partners.’ A spokesperson for MIPS couldn’t comment on whether any new contracts had been signed but said that the company was working on increasing licensees. Questioned on how the company was going to reduce its Nintendo-dependent revenue by 30% over the course of the next year, the spokesperson claimed that the new MIPS business plan was not based on getting a next generation Nintendo deal but concentrated on other consumer devices such as set top boxes and handhelds which could become extremely high volume.
