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takyon writes:

Imagination Technologies is making a MIPS CPU design called MIPSfpga available for academic use:

Is it open source? Not completely. For academic users the license is simple: you can use it as you wish, but you cannot put it into silicon. If you modify it, you must talk to us first if you wish to patent the changes. In summary, universities can go as deep as they like under the hood.

Now that the MIPSfpga initiative is public, let me tell you what is available and what is coming:

• The getting started package includes the MIPS microAptiv CPU and all the other elements you need to get started. This includes a detailed guide that enables you to check the CPU is running on the FPGA and that you can program and debug it. The guide gives examples for the Terasic DE2-115 (Altera FPGA) platform and the Digilent Nexys4 DDR (Xilinx FPGA) platforms, although we are sure users will port it to many other platforms.
• Soon after the launch package, we will offer MIPSfpga Fundamentals – a complete set of teaching materials using the CPU.
• Then later MIPSfpga Advanced teaching materials will take things to a deeper level.

The Register reports that "While ARM and Intel dominate the chip market, the MIPS third option is still a significant player in the industry... Former rival and co-founder and CTO of ARC, Rick Clucas, told El Reg: 'It will potentially give MIPS something to beat ARM with'." AnandTech also has coverage of the announcement as well as some context for the move. Imagination has released new PowerVR GPUs and development boards in recent months in order to compete with ARM SoCs. The company imagines its GPUs being used in "entry-level mobile devices, embedded computers, and high-end wearables."