The electronics industry has witnessed a spate of acquisition news, as some of the largest players have moved to acquire companies they see as being integral to their future strategies.
Among them, Qualcomm spent $2.4 billion to acquire Alphawave Semi to support its expansion into data centres in June; IonQ splashed $1.075 billion to acquire Oxford Ionics to consolidate its quantum computing capabilities that same month; NXP Semiconductors bought Edge AI company Kinara for $307 million in February; and, in more recent news, GlobalFoundries acquired MIPS for its RISC-V processor IP portfolio – announced on the 8th July, 2025.
In a conversation with Procurement Pro, James Prior, Head of Marketing at MIPS said that MIPS’ vision for physical AI IP had attracted GlobalFoundries (GF), and was a driving reason why it had agreed to buy the business.
MIPS has been acquired by several companies in its time. It was first spun out of Stanford University, during which time the company was developing RISC architecture, and was purchased by Silicon Graphics (SGI) in 1992. In 2013 it was acquired by Imagination Technologies, and then sold to Tallwood Venture Capital in 2017. Shortly after, it was purchased by Wave Computing in 2018, which later declared bankruptcy, and MIPS became a private company.
This latest acquisition by GFcomplements MIPS nicely, because while they bring the physical AI expertise, GF has the manufacturing capabilities that will aid “supply chain resilience” – a term particularly poignant in today’s electronics manufacturing landscape, where the announcement of Trump’s tariffs sent the market momentarily into a tailspin, before he announced a 90-day pause. As the US is the world’s largest consumer and China the largest manufacturer, it casts a lot of uncertainty about the fate of semiconductor and chip manufacturing.
Currently, the US tariffs against China sit at 55%; a marked difference from when they spiralled up to 145% and China imposed a retaliatory 125% tariff earlier this year.
This turbulent backdrop provides key context to why GF’s global fabrication footprint – including fabs in Germany, Singapore, and the US – is crucial.
“It gives us the footprint,” Prior explained. “It gives us the reach out to all [of] the customers, because they’re working with them already, so we can go [and] talk to them together.
“Everybody’s learned the lesson from the last few years … you need to know where your chips are coming from and where the vulnerabilities are in terms of supply chain management.”
The announcement confirmed that MIPS’ existing partnerships with foundries would not be affected by this acquisition, as it will continue to operate as an independent company.
Physical AI roadmap
At embedded world in March, MIPS officially launched its Atlas portfolio: three physical AI compute subsystems targeting robotics, which includes humanoid robots, but also the more mundane applications people may not think of.
“Everyone’s looking at this like, ‘Well how do I use AI in a meaningful way? What do I do with it and physical AI?'” said Prior. “Everyone snaps to humanoid robots as the ultimate expression of physical AI, and that’s where we’ll end up. But along the way, there are going to be so many more things, automated kitchens, things like dishwashers that load themselves … all of those problems require the computing that we’re providing, and that’s where we’re going to see the growth.”
Prior noted that MIPS wasn’t looking to position itself as the only company looking at physical AI – but by leveraging its heritage in functional safety, reliable systems, networking, and so on, it could capitalise on these advantages to deliver compute subsystems that would enable the physical AI market.
For industries like automotive and industrial, which can lag behind in adoption, by catching the “first edge” of AI in industrial and automotive deployment, GF recognised in this prescient approach a need to begin manufacturing chips that would meet the requirements of these industries.
“It’s really a validation that the roadmap we have is the right one,” said Prior.
Additionally, by being acquired by a foundry as large as GF – reportedly the world’s third largest chip manufacturer – provides assurance to MIPS’ customers in navigating supply chain challenges, and opens up opportunities for them.
“This uncaps a lot of the automotive and industrial and aerospace and defence opportunities,” Prior added. “GlobalFoundries … not only has their differentiated foundry technology and robust proven IP … but they have the supply chain resilience that those companies look for. So where it’s being built, who’s backing them.”
Looking ahead
Summarising key advantages of the acquisition, Prior said: “GlobalFoundries has the essential technology for building robust platforms that are safety critical … MIPS has the processor IP designs that are ready to go into those physical AI systems.
“It’s a validation of a strategy that started a couple of years ago, to approach the market differently,” he concluded. “I think basing our product line on RISC V, picking an open standard base, using the modularity and the freedom to innovate … is the differentiator.”
In terms of next steps, MIPS will continue to execute on its Atlas portfolio and continue to develop “compelling solutions” for embedded applications, microcontrollers, and Edge AI inference.
“That strategy validation is incredible. It’s great to see … number two is going to be, how do we get that done? Later this year, we’ll show off more of our capabilities with the detailed demos. Get the customers moving from knowing about MIPS and [being] ready to engage.”
