What is "picochip"

Picochip was a venture-backed fabless semiconductor company based in Bath, England, founded in 2000. In January 2012 Picochip was acquired by Mindspeed Technologies, Inc.

The company was active in two areas, with two distinct product families.

Picochip was one of the first companies to start placing femtocells, mini cell base stations, in homes and offices. The femtocells help combat reception issues such as: dropped calls, poor sound quality, delays, and slow downloads. The idea is to help with the congestion of cell phone towers by allowing them to hold more cellphone traffic. The femtocell is very cost-effective, which is ideal because it makes connection free and does not interfere with other towers or frequencies.