MosChip launches two new bridge chips

MosChip Semiconductor Technology Limited, a provider of high performance connectivity solutions for consumer, industrial and computing applications, has announced the addition of two new bridge chips for computing and network connectivity applications. Besides, the company expects to turn profitable by April this year.

Addressing the media on Thursday, Prem Talreja, vice-president for worldwide sales and marketing, MosChip, said, "The market is becoming consumer-driven and MosChip is well-poised to take advantage of this," adding, "We are, therefore, announcing the addition of MCS8140, a programmable SoC (system-on-chip) that addresses the need to connect USB 2.0 enabled devices to the network via Ethernet interface. The consumer (SOHO) small office and home office market is a big target for this bridge chip with the total available market being 3-5 million units."

MCS8140 will sample in Q3'06 and is priced at $12.5 per chip when sold in lots of 10,000 chips.

MosChip also announced the addition of MCS7840 that addresses the need of customers to increase the performance and reduce the size of their products. It can be used in point-of-sale terminals, industrial automation and instrumentation systems. The total available market for this is 2-3 million units. MCS7840 will sample in Q2'06 and is priced at $5.5 per chip when sold in lots of 10,000 chips.

The company introduced 11 products last year and is expecting significant revenues this year.

"We are leaving this year qualified by many customers and therefore will turn profitable (net profits) by April this year," Ram Reddy, chief executive officer of MosChip, said. The company is also looking at closing in some strategic partnerships.