Espressif Licenses and Deploys CEVA Bluetooth in ESP32 IoT Chip

Espressif's new Wi-Fi/Bluetooth Combo chip leverages RivieraWaves Bluetooth 4.2 dual mode IP

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif., Oct. 26, 2016 -- CEVA, Inc. (NASDAQ: CEVA), the leading licensor of signal processing IP for smarter, connected devices, today announced Espressif Systems, a leading fabless semiconductor company providing low power wireless solutions for the Internet of Things (IoT) applications has licensed and deployed the RivieraWaves Bluetooth dual mode technology in its new ESP32 chip.

Espressif Systems, with headquarters in Shanghai, is focused on creating innovative, versatile solutions to enable low cost wireless connectivity in a wide range of products. The new ESP32 combo chip integrates robust wireless interfaces for 802.11b/g/n Wi-Fi and CEVA's Bluetooth 4.2 dual mode, along with a rich GPIO offering for system flexibility. Designed for ultra-low power consumption, the ESP32 is aimed at mobile devices, wearable electronics and the Internet of Things (IoT) applications.

"The IOT is a rapidly growing set of fragmented and multi-faceted applications. The combination of Wi-Fi and Bluetooth offers the best user experience, covering a wide range of use cases." said Teo Swee Ann, CEO of Espressif Systems. "We have chosen CEVA's RivieraWaves dual mode Bluetooth IP because it allows us to address the widest possible range of applications, covering both classic and low energy connections. We are delighted with the quality and excellent technical support, which enabled us to rapidly integrate Bluetooth capabilities into Espressif's ESP32 platform."

"We are pleased to announce Espressif as a licensee for our RivieraWaves Bluetooth IP" said Aviv Malinovitch, vice president and general manager of the Connectivity Business Unit at CEVA. "The ESP32 is an impressive device which will no doubt open up Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity to many new IoT products. It is no surprise that Espressif were named as a 'Cool Vendor' in IoT 2016 by Gartner."

CEVA's RivieraWaves Bluetooth IP platforms consist of a hardware baseband controller, plus a feature-rich software protocol stack. A flexible radio interface allows the platform to be deployed with either RivieraWaves RF or various partners' RF IP, enabling optimal selection of foundry and process node. For wireless headset / earbud applications, the RivieraWaves Bluetooth 4.2 dual mode controller, modem and TSMC 40nm radio are an ideal fit and can be further augmented with a low power CEVA audio/voice DSP for noise/echo cancellation, always-on voice activation or other proprietary audio enhancements. With more than 1 billion devices shipped to date and dozens of licensees, the RivieraWaves Bluetooth IP is widely deployed in consumer and IoT devices with many of the world's leading semiconductors and OEMs, including smartphones, tablets, wireless headsets, wireless speakers, wearables, and hearing aids. For more information on RivieraWaves Bluetooth IP platforms, go to http://www.ceva-dsp.com/RivieraWaves-Bluetooth-Platforms.

About Espressif Systems (Shanghai) PTE. LTD.
Espressif is a fabless semiconductor company based in Shanghai, China. Espressif offers low power Wi-Fi and Bluetooth SoCs and wireless solutions for IoT applications. Espressif has a team of innovators from around the world, working in the area of chip design, algorithm research, software development, open source software movement, product development, and customer service. To learn more about Espressif's products and service, please visit www.espressif.com or send email to sales@espressif.com.

About CEVA, Inc.
CEVA is the leading licensor of signal processing IP for a smarter, connected world. We partner with semiconductor companies and OEMs worldwide to create power-efficient, intelligent and connected devices for a range of end markets, including mobile, consumer, automotive, industrial and IoT. Our ultra-low-power IPs for vision, audio, communications and connectivity include comprehensive DSP-based platforms for LTE/LTE-A/5G baseband processing in handsets, infrastructure and machine-to-machine devices, computer vision and computational photography for any camera-enabled device, audio/voice/speech and ultra-low power always-on/sensing applications for multiple IoT markets. For connectivity, we offer the industry's most widely adopted IPs for Bluetooth (low energy and dual mode), Wi-Fi (802.11 a/b/g/n/ac up to 4x4) and serial storage (SATA and SAS). Visit us at www.ceva-dsp.com.