Parthus develops new chip format

Parthus Technologies, the Irish semiconductor developer, will today announce a breakthrough in chip design that could thrust it to the front of the mobile communications revolution.

The company, which reports third-quarter results today, will unveil a single chip computer capable of driving a broad range of next generation mobile devices including phones, personal digital assistants and Internet appliances.

Parthus developed the design with Psion, the British-based hand-held computer manufacturer, which has agreed to licence the chip for its new range. Motorola, the largest US mobile 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 yesterday that manufacturers licensing the design would be able "drastically" to reduce the time it takes to get future mobile Internet devices to market. The chip has been designed to be simply installed 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.

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.

Its shares closed at 269p, down 2p yesterday, valuing the company at £1.45 billion.

The market for the new design could be substantial. Cahners InStat Group, the consultancy, estimates there will be more than 740 million mobile Internet subscribers by 2004.