Femto pioneer picoChip receives funding from Samsung

Femto cell supplier and multicore-DSP developer picoChipannounced that Samsung Electronics has made a strategic investmentin the company for an undisclosed amount.

The investment forms part of the $27 million of new investment D-round announced in July by picoChip which was led Highland Capital Partners. The round has brought the total company funding to $70.5 million.

Samsung manufactures 3G base transceiver stations and base station controllers, as well as base stations for WiMAX. The South Korea-based company is one of the suppliers for Sprint's mobile WiMAX network rollout in the United States to deploy in Washington, Baltimore, Philadelphia, and Providence, and recently won the contract for New York.

"Samsung is a world leader in wireless infrastructure, and it is a testament to picoChip's prominence as a silicon vendor for this market that Samsung has chosen to invest in us," said Guillaume d'Eyssautier, president and CEO of picoChip. "The new round of funding reaffirms our leadership in multi-core DSP for advanced wireless markets with our WiMAX, HSPA and femtocell products."

"Our strategic investment in picoChip represents Samsung's commitment to advanced wireless," said Brian Kang, principal investment manager at Samsung Ventures America. "picoChip is a key player with leading edge solutions for both WiMAX and femtocells, and we are delighted to be working with them as we address these growing wireless markets."