Could MIPS gain a new lease of life with Chinese backing?

The break-up and sale of Imagination Technologies, in the wake of Apple abandoning its graphics processor design in the iPhone, may result in its MIPS processor gaining a new lease of life in Chinese hands. UK-based Imagination announced twin deals – selling the main company to Canyon Bridge Capital Partners for $742.5m, and MIPS to Tallwood Venure Capital for $65m (with the former deal being contingent on the latter). The separate deal for MIPS was assumed to be partly to avoid a review of the Imagination purchase by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS), since Canyon Bridge is partly backed by the Chinese government. While CFIUS would have no interest in the core Imagination business, it…