Spreadtrum Licenses CEVA-TeakLite-4 Audio/Voice DSP

Industry's most widely deployed DSP architecture brings advanced processing and ultra-low power consumption to Spreadtrum's next-generation smartphone SoCs

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. -- Nov. 05, 2013 -- CEVA, Inc. (NASDAQ: CEVA), the leading licensor of silicon intellectual property (SIP) platform solutions and DSP cores, today announced that Spreadtrum Communications, Inc. (NASDAQ: SPRD; "Spreadtrum") has licensed the CEVA-TeakLite-4 DSP to support advanced audio and voice capabilities in its next-generation smartphone platform System-on-Chip (SoCs). This enables Spreadtrum to enhance their audio and voice processing capabilities, leveraging the latest generation of the world's most widely deployed DSP architecture.

The fully programmable CEVA-TeakLite-4 DSP was specifically designed to address the increasingly complex processing and stringent low-power requirements of advanced voice pre-processing and audio post-processing algorithms, including the latest always-on voice activation typically found in high-end devices. The CEVA-TeakLite-4's orthogonal architecture, audio- and voice-specific instruction set, and advanced power management provide Spreadtrum with an optimal platform with which to implement ultra-low power audio and voice capabilities in addition to control plane processing.

"Battery life and advanced voice processing capabilities were two of the primary DSP selection criteria for our next-generation smartphone platforms, and the CEVA-TeakLite-4 DSP delivers outstandingly in both respects," said Dr. Leo Li, chairman and CEO of Spreadtrum.  "We are pleased to extend our close collaboration with CEVA, reflecting the high level of innovation, quality and support they consistently deliver us."

"Spreadtrum continues to lead the industry in cost-efficient, highly-integrated smartphone platforms, enabling many millions of people in developing nations access to the benefits of smartphone technology annually," said Issachar Ohana, executive vice president of worldwide sales at CEVA. "We have enjoyed a long and successful partnership with Spreadtrum for many years and are pleased to enhance our cooperation to include our latest generation DSP technology."

The CEVA-TeakLite-4 is the fourth generation DSP based on the CEVA-TeakLite architecture, the most successful licensable DSP family in the history of the semiconductor industry, with more than 2.5 billion audio/voice chips shipped, over 100 licensees, 30 active ecosystem partners and more than 100 audio and voice software packages available. The CEVA-TeakLite-4 is offered as a scalable and extensible architecture framework, allowing customers to choose the optimal family member core to address their specific audio/voice application needs. The CEVA-TeakLite-4 is fully compatible with previous generations of the CEVA-TeakLite family, ensuring that the complete software portfolio of the CEVA-TeakLite architecture runs on the CEVA-TeakLite-4 with improved efficiency. By taking advantage of a unified development infrastructure composed of code-compatible cores, a set of optimized software libraries and a unified tool chain, customers can significantly reduce software development costs while leveraging their software investment in future products. For more information, visit http://www.ceva-dsp.com/CEVA-TeakLite-4.

About CEVA, Inc.

CEVA is the world's leading licensor of silicon intellectual property (SIP) DSP cores and platform solutions for the mobile, portable and consumer electronics markets. CEVA's IP portfolio includes comprehensive technologies for cellular baseband (2G / 3G / 4G), multimedia (vision, imaging and HD audio), voice processing, Bluetooth, Serial Attached SCSI (SAS) and Serial ATA (SATA). In 2012, CEVA's IP was shipped in over 1.1 billion devices, powering smartphones from many of the world's leading OEMs, including HTC, Huawei, LG, Nokia, Motorola, Samsung, Sony, TCL and ZTE. Today, more than 40% of handsets shipped worldwide are powered by a CEVA DSP core. For more information, visit www.ceva-dsp.com.