CEVA, Inc. (CEVA): Marketing Mix Analysis [Dec-2025 Updated]

You're looking to understand the engine behind the 'Smart Edge'-the silicon and software IP that powers billions of connected devices-and honestly, the financials for a pure-play licensor like CEVA, Inc. can seem opaque. Well, after two decades analyzing tech plays, including my time heading analysis at BlackRock, I can tell you their model is working: Q3 2025 shipments hit nearly 579 million units, supporting a stellar 89% non-GAAP gross margin, driven by upfront fees and growing royalties. To see exactly how this IP powerhouse structures its Product, Place, Promotion, and Price strategy to keep that growth engine humming, dive into the breakdown below.

CEVA, Inc. (CEVA) - Marketing Mix: Product

You're looking at the core technology CEVA, Inc. (CEVA) licenses out; these are the foundational building blocks, not the final gadgets you buy off the shelf. The product element here is all about the silicon and software Intellectual Property (IP) that powers the Smart Edge.

The portfolio is segmented across AI processing, wireless connectivity, and specialized sensing/audio processing. For instance, in the third quarter of 2025, CEVA, Inc. reported total revenue of $28.4 million, with licensing and related revenue hitting $16.0 million, showing the upfront value of these IP agreements. Furthermore, the health of the installed base is reflected in the royalty revenue, which reached $12.4 million in Q3 2025.

NeuPro NPU Family: Edge AI Inference

The NeuPro Neural Processing Unit (NPU) family is designed for on-device Edge AI inference, supporting everything from tiny IoT models to complex generative AI workloads. The AI processor licensing segment is clearly gaining traction, contributing approximately one-third of licensing revenue in both the second and third quarters of 2025.

The scalability within the NeuPro family is significant:

• - The NeuPro-Nano targets low-power AIoT, supporting configurations from 32 to 64 MAC cores, offering performance from 10 GOPS to 200 GOPS per core.
• - The more powerful NeuPro-M scales from a single engine with 4,096 eight-bit MACs up to an eight-engine configuration with 64K eight-bit MACs.
• - The NeuPro-M architecture can deliver scalable performance ranging from 2 to 400 TOPs per core.
• - For generative AI models like Llama 2, the efficiency is noted at up to 3500 Tokens-per-Second/Watt.

Strategic wins underscore product adoption; for example, CEVA, Inc. signed a long-term strategic NeuPro NPU portfolio license with Microchip on November 5, 2025. Also, Nextchip selected the NeuPro-M for its next-generation ADAS solutions in April 2025.

Connectivity IP: Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and Cellular IoT

CEVA, Inc. holds a commanding position in wireless connectivity IP, having grown its market share to 68% in 2024, which is more than 10 times larger than its closest peer. This portfolio covers multiple standards essential for the Smart Edge.

The breadth of the connectivity IP is demonstrated by the volume of devices shipping:

• - In Q3 2025, CEVA-powered device shipments reached 579 million units.
• - These shipments included record volumes in Wi-Fi 6 and cellular IoT.
• - The company has more than 40 licensees for its RivieraWaves Wi-Fi 6 IP family alone.
• - The latest Wi-Fi 7 platform is designed to capture a growing segment; ABI Research projects over 1.7 billion Wi-Fi 7 chipset shipments by 2028.

The company's wireless portfolio includes the Ceva-Waves Dragonfly platform for LTE-M and NB-IoT, and demos at Embedded World 2025 featured Bluetooth 6.0. In Q1 2025, one of the 11 license agreements concluded was a Wi-Fi 7 deal for AIoT.

SensPro DSPs: Sensor Fusion and Automotive AI

The SensPro DSP family is architected to handle sensor fusion, combining vision, Radar, and AI processing. The second-generation SensPro2 architecture shows significant performance leaps over its predecessor.

Performance metrics for the SensPro2 include:

• - Delivering up to 3.2 TOPS for 8x8 networks inferencing at 1.6GHz.
• - Offering 6X more DSP processing for computer vision and 8X more DSP performance for Radar processing.

The high-end Ceva-SP1000 member can reach 2 TOPS performance. The technology is being deployed in automotive safety; Oritek integrated the SensPro Vision AI DSP into its Longquan 560 series chipsets for ADAS features like AI-based headlights and camera monitoring systems. Furthermore, Q2 2025 saw agreements targeting 4D radar for automotive applications.

Embedded Software: RealSpace Elevate

The embedded software component includes application-specific solutions like RealSpace Elevate spatial audio. This premium software offering provides multi-channel spatial audio with head tracking for Android and Windows devices.

Key integration points for this software include:

• - A partnership to integrate RealSpace Elevate into MediaTek's Dimensity 9400 5G chipset.
• - A license secured in Q1 2025 for spatial audio software for wireless headsets from a leading PC OEM.

The overall installed base is substantial; CEVA, Inc. surpassed the milestone of 20 billion Ceva-powered devices shipped as of Q2 2025.

The product portfolio is summarized below by key technology area and associated metrics:

These solutions are foundational silicon and software IP, meaning CEVA, Inc. does not sell the end-user products; rather, their success is measured by the massive volume of licensed designs shipping, such as the 579 million units shipped in Q3 2025.

Finance: draft 13-week cash view by Friday.

CEVA, Inc. (CEVA) - Marketing Mix: Place

The distribution strategy for CEVA, Inc. centers on its intellectual property (IP) licensing model, which dictates a direct-to-business (B2B) approach for global market access. This model avoids traditional product distribution channels, focusing instead on embedding its technology directly into the System-on-Chips (SoCs) designed by its customers.

Direct Licensing Model and Worldwide Reach

• IP is licensed directly to semiconductor and OEM companies globally.
• The company's mission is to be the partner of choice for transformative IP solutions for the smart edge.
• Customers in Europe and Middle East (EME) and Asia Pacific (APAC) accounted for 81% of total revenues for 2024.
• Customers in China alone accounted for 49% of total revenues for 2024.
• Licensing and related revenue for the third quarter of 2025 was $16.0 million.
• Total revenue for the third quarter of 2025 was $28.4 million.

This direct licensing approach allows CEVA, Inc. to maintain a high-margin business, evidenced by a non-GAAP gross margin of 89% in Q3 2025. The sales force supporting this global reach had 34 employees as of December 31, 2024.

Ecosystem Partnerships for Integration

The place strategy heavily relies on deep, strategic integrations with key industry players to ensure CEVA, Inc. IP is foundational in their product roadmaps. This ecosystem approach is critical for volume penetration.

These deals help accelerate the deployment of scalable AI across various product lines.

High-Volume Penetration Metrics

The success of the distribution strategy is quantified by the volume of devices shipping with CEVA, Inc. technology embedded. This volume directly drives the royalty revenue stream.

• CEVA-powered device shipments reached 579 million units in Q3 2025.
• IoT shipments hit a record 510 million units in Q3 2025.
• Bluetooth shipments for the quarter were 303 million units.
• The total number of Ceva-powered devices shipped since 2003 surpassed 19 billion.

Royalty revenue for Q3 2025 grew 6% year-over-year to $12.4 million.

CEVA, Inc. (CEVA) - Marketing Mix: Promotion

You're looking at how CEVA, Inc. communicates its value proposition as the core technology provider for the Smart Edge. The promotion strategy centers on validating its IP leadership through massive scale, high-profile design wins, and presence at key industry forums.

Thought Leadership: Positioning as the leading licensor of silicon and software IP for the Smart Edge.

CEVA, Inc. consistently promotes its role as the foundational technology provider for intelligent, connected devices. This positioning is heavily supported by the sheer volume of its technology deployed globally. As of the third quarter of 2025, CEVA-powered device shipments for that quarter alone reached 579 million units. This scale reinforces the message that their IP-covering wireless connectivity, sensing, and Edge AI-is pervasive across the ecosystem.

Strategic Announcements: Highlighting key design wins, like the NeuPro NPU portfolio license with Microchip.

Major licensing agreements serve as critical promotional proof points. A significant announcement in late 2025 was the long-term partnership with Microchip Technology Inc. on November 5, 2025, involving the NeuPro family of Neural Processing Units (NPUs) and the NeuPro Studio AI software development kit. This type of win is heavily publicized to demonstrate the market's trust in CEVA's AI inference technology across industrial, automotive, and data center markets.

Industry Milestones: Publicizing the surpassing of the 20 billion Ceva-powered device lifetime shipment mark.

The announcement in August 2025 that CEVA had surpassed 20 billion Ceva-powered devices shipped globally is a cornerstone of their promotional narrative. This figure is used to establish a legacy of enabling innovation over more than two decades. Furthermore, the company highlights the current deployment velocity, noting that its technology powers an additional 60 devices every second.

Targeted Events: Showcasing new IP and partnerships at definitely critical industry shows like CES 2025.

Participation in premier industry events like CES is essential for direct engagement and product demonstration. CEVA management attended CES 2025 in Las Vegas, Nevada, from January 7-10, 2025. The promotion at the event focused on demonstrating the breadth of their portfolio, from connectivity to AI processing.

• NeuPro-Nano NPU supports configurations of 32 and 64 MAC cores.
• NeuPro-Nano delivers scalable performance from 10 GOPS to 200 GOPS per core.
• The NeuPro-Nano received the 2025 IoT Edge Computing Excellence Award.
• Demos included multi-channel spatial audio integration with MediaTek's Dimensity 9400 smartphone chips.
• The company showcased an ADAS chipset licensing deal with Oritek Semiconductor.

The company also promoted its software ecosystem, including the integration of the Nvidia TAO toolkit with Ceva-NeuPro Studio.

CEVA, Inc. (CEVA) - Marketing Mix: Price

You're looking at how CEVA, Inc. structures the money customers pay for its Intellectual Property (IP) and the resulting revenue streams. The pricing strategy here is inherently tied to the value of the IP itself, reflecting the perceived value in the silicon and software that powers the Smart Edge.

The core of CEVA, Inc.'s pricing model is a dual revenue stream. This means revenue comes from two distinct sources: upfront payments for the right to use the technology and ongoing payments based on volume.

Here is the breakdown of the revenue generation for the third quarter of 2025, which clearly illustrates this dual approach:

This structure supports a very high margin profile, which is typical for an IP licensing model. For the third quarter of 2025, the Non-GAAP gross margin stood at 89%. Management expects this high margin to persist, guiding for a similar level in the fourth quarter of 2025.

The royalty component, which is directly tied to the volume of chips shipped using CEVA, Inc.'s IP, shows clear drivers for potential price realization through higher-value products. Here are some key metrics related to the pricing realization:

• Non-GAAP Gross Margin (Q3 2025): 89%
• Royalty Revenue Growth (YoY Q3 2025): 6%
• AI processor licensing contribution to total licensing revenue (Q3 2025): Approximately one-third
• Total Ceva-powered device shipments (Q3 2025): 579 million units

The adoption of newer standards is a key factor influencing the Average Selling Price (ASP) within the royalty stream. Specifically, record shipments in Wi-Fi 6 and cellular IoT are cited as the driver for healthy royalty growth, suggesting that newer, more advanced IP commands a better per-unit royalty rate, thus reflecting a higher perceived value.

Looking ahead, the pricing strategy is expected to continue driving top-line growth. For the fourth quarter of 2025, CEVA, Inc. has provided guidance for total revenue in the range of $29 million - $33 million.