Parthus unveils mobile chip
By Alan Cane and FT.com staff
Published: October 17 2000 21:07GMT | Last Updated: October 18 2000 07:51GMT
Shares in Parthus Technologies, the Irish semiconductor developer, rose on Wednesday after the company announced a breakthrough in chip design that could thrust it to the front of the mobile communications revolution.
The company, which also also reported maiden results showing strong growth in licence and royalty revenues on Wednesday, unveiled a single chip computer capable of driving a broad range of next generation mobile devices including phones, personal digital assistants and internet appliances.
Parthus shares, listed in both London and on the Nasdaq, climbed 6.5 per cent to 286-1/2p on the news. They had risen as much as 14.4 in pre-market trading.
Parthus developed the design with Psion, the UK-based handheld computer manufacturer, which has agreed to license the chip for its new range. Motorola, the largest US cell phone manufacturer, will use it in its next generation intelligent "Smartphones".
The new design - called Infostream - integrates the capabilities of a personal computer, third generation mobile phone and geographical positioning system and makes connections to the internet simple. The integration of so many functions on a single chip confers substantial cost, power and ease-of-use benefits.
Parthus claimed on Tuesday that manufacturers licensing the design would be able "drastically" to reduce the time it takes to get future mobile internet devices to market. In quantity, Infostream chips are expected to cost only a few dollars apiece.
The chip has been designed to be installed simply in vehicles, raising the possibility of cars that contact service stations automatically after detecting faults or when service is due.
The Infostream design incorporates the ARM microprocessor that forms the heart of many of the world's mobile phones and uses the Symbian operating system that was developed by Psion.
It will run other operating systems, however, including Microsoft's Pocket PC and the latest fashion, Linux.
The launch came on the same day that Parthus reported that licence and royalty revenues in the third quarter had more than doubled to $4.5m, while total revenues had grown to $8.6m, 76 per cent higher than last year. The company said it had signed a record 10 licences for mobile internet platforms during the quarter.
Parthus made a $2.3m net loss for the quarter, excluding non-cash stock compensation and amortisation.
Parthus, based in Dublin and San Jose, California, was established in 1993. It now employs some 300 design engineers working on a broad range of communications technologies including next generation cellphones, MP3, the standard for music over the internet, and Bluetooth, the low power wireless standard for internet access.
The market for the new design could be substantial. Cahners In-Stat Group, the consultancy, estimates there will be more than 740m mobile internet subscribers by 2004. |
