MaxLinear Introduces Carmel™ High-Speed USB-to-UART Product for Next-Generation AI Data Center Console Access

CARLSBAD, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aug 10, 2026--

MaxLinear, Inc. (NASDAQ: MXL), a leader in high-performance analog, mixed-signal and connectivity semiconductor solutions, today announced Carmel™, MxL81434, a next-generation high-speed USB-to-UART product designed to support console access, system bring-up, monitoring, debugging, and infrastructure management in AI data centers and hyperscale cloud environments. Carmel™ combines 480Mbps High-Speed USB connectivity, four high-performance UART channels operating at up to 15 Mbps each, an integrated I²C master, and 32 GPIOs in a highly integrated device for modern server and rack-scale management designs.

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Carmel™ extends MaxLinear’s USB-to-UART portfolio with a high-speed connectivity and console-access building block for server, rack-scale, and AI infrastructure designs.

We believe the market opportunity for USB-to-UART devices is substantial, with an estimated serviceable available market (SAM) of approximately 200 million units driven by AI data center deployments. Building on the success of Coronado™ and Laguna™, Carmel expands MaxLinear’s participation in this growing market by addressing higher-performance console-access, debug, monitoring, and infrastructure-management requirements for next-generation AI server and rack-scale platforms.

Why Carmel Matters

Performance Leadership

Featuring four UART channels operating at speeds up to 15 Mbps each, Carmel provides high-speed console connectivity for data-intensive debug, provisioning, diagnostics, and recovery workflows.

The device integrates 1024-byte transmit and receive FIFOs, helping sustain high throughput while minimizing host processor overhead. An integrated I²C master and 32 GPIO channels allow designers to consolidate monitoring, reset management, debug access, and platform-management functions into a single device.

Executive Quote

“As AI infrastructure scales, the performance requirements for console access, debug, and platform management continue to increase,” said Amit D. Bavisi, Ph.D., Senior Vice President and General Manager of MaxLinear’s Analog Mixed-Signal Business Unit. “Carmel delivers high-speed USB-to-UART connectivity, combining 480Mbps bandwidth, four UART channels supporting up to 15Mbps each, integrated I²C management, 32 GPIOs, large FIFOs, and robust ESD protection to support low-latency access and reliable operation in next-generation AI data centers.”

Distribution Partner Quote

“We are very pleased to work with MaxLinear to expand its existing USB-to-UART product portfolio and bring the new Carmel™ high-speed USB-to-UART product to our cloud service provider customers,” said Johnny Hsu, Vice President of Marketing, WT Microelectronics. “As data center and AI server architectures continue to evolve, customers face increasingly diverse and challenging console-access, management, and debug requirements. Carmel’s combination of 480 Mbps High-Speed USB connectivity, four high-performance UART channels, integrated management capabilities, and low-latency operation provides a compelling solution that helps enable next-generation server and rack-scale platform designs.”

Target Applications

Availability

Carmel™ samples are expected to be available in Q4 2026. For additional information, contact your MaxLinear representative.

About MaxLinear, Inc.

MaxLinear, Inc. (Nasdaq: MXL) is a leading provider of radio frequency (RF), analog, digital, and mixed-signal integrated circuits for access and connectivity, wired and wireless infrastructure, and industrial and multimarket applications. MaxLinear is headquartered in Carlsbad, California. For more information, please visit https://www.maxlinear.com/.

MaxLinear, the MaxLinear logo, and any other MaxLinear trademarks are all property of MaxLinear, Inc. or one of MaxLinear's subsidiaries in the U.S.A. and other countries. All rights reserved.

All third-party marks and logos are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective holders/owners.

Cautionary Note About Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. Forward-looking statements include, among others, statements relating to the Carmel™ (MxL81434) high-speed USB-to-UART product and the functionality, performance, benefits, and availability of such product, including the expectation that Carmel™ samples will be available in the fourth quarter of 2026; statements about the potential market opportunity for USB-to-UART devices, including the estimated serviceable available market and the anticipated growth of AI data center and hyperscale cloud deployments; the potential growth of the AI market; the expected benefits of Carmel™ for next-generation AI server and rack-scale platform designs; and statements by MaxLinear’s Senior Vice President and General Manager, Analog Mixed-Signal Business Unit, and by the Vice President of Marketing, WT Microelectronics. These forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties, and other factors that may cause actual results to be materially different from any future results expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements and our future financial performance and operating results forecasts generally. Forward-looking statements are based on management’s current, preliminary expectations and are subject to various risks and uncertainties. In particular, our future operating results are substantially dependent on our assumptions about market trends and conditions. Additional risks and uncertainties affecting our business, future operating results and financial condition include, without limitation; risks relating to: the development, testing, and commercial introduction of new products and product functionalities, including the Carmel™ high-speed USB-to-UART product; risks related to the market opportunity for USB-to-UART devices for AI data center console access, including the estimated serviceable available market described above, not developing or being smaller or slower to develop than anticipated, or MaxLinear not being able to capture share of the market; the capabilities of our technology; our terminated merger with Silicon Motion and related arbitration and class action complaint and the risks related to potential payment of damages; the effect of intense and increasing competition; increased tariffs, export controls or imposition of additional trade barriers; impacts of global economic conditions; the cyclical nature of the semiconductor industry; a significant variance in our operating results and impact on volatility in our stock price, and our ability to sustain our current level of revenue, which has previously declined, and/or manage future growth effectively, and the impact of excess inventory in the channel on our customers’ expected demand for certain of our products and on our revenue; escalating trade wars, military conflicts and other geopolitical and economic tensions among the countries in which we conduct business; international geopolitical and military conflicts; our ability to obtain or retain government authorization to export certain of our products or technology; the loss of, or a significant reduction in orders from major customers; legal proceedings or potential violations of regulations; information technology failures; a decrease in the average selling prices of our products; failure to penetrate new applications and markets; development delays and consolidation trends in our industry; inability to make substantial and productive research and development investments; delays or expenses caused by undetected defects or bugs in our products; substantial quarterly and annual fluctuations in our revenue and operating results; failure to timely develop and introduce new or enhanced products; order and shipment uncertainties and differences between our estimates of customer demand and product mix and our actual results; failure to accurately predict our future revenue and appropriately budget expenses; lengthy and expensive customer qualification processes; customer product plan cancellations; failure to maintain compliance with government regulations; failure to attract and retain qualified personnel; any adverse impact of rising interest rates on us, our customers, and our distributors and related demand; risks related to compliance with privacy, data protection and cybersecurity laws and regulations; risks related to conforming our products to industry standards; risks related to business acquisitions and investments; claims of intellectual property infringement; our ability to protect our intellectual property; security vulnerabilities of our products; use of open source software in our products; failure to manage our relationships with, or negative impacts from, third parties; the accuracy of our estimates regarding the size, timing, and growth of the serviceable available market and total addressable market for our USB-to-UART and related products; our dependence on continued growth in AI data center, hyperscale cloud, and rack-scale infrastructure spending; the timing and availability of product samples and volume production and the risk of delays; our dependence on distributors and channel partners to market and sell our products; the risk that actual product performance may differ from published specifications; and future decisions relating to our stock repurchase program.

In addition to these risks and uncertainties, investors should review the risks and uncertainties contained in our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including our Current Reports on Form 8-K, as well as the information to be set forth under the caption "Risk Factors" in MaxLinear's Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended March 31, 2026. All forward-looking statements are based on the estimates, projections and assumptions of management as of the date of this press release, and MaxLinear is under no obligation (and expressly disclaims any such obligation) to update or revise any forward-looking statements whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise.

MaxLinear's Carmel™ (MxL81434) high-speed USB-to-UART solution delivers 480 Mbps USB connectivity, four UART channels up to 15 Mbps each, integrated I²C, and 32 GPIOs for next-generation AI infrastructure console access.

A yacht owned by Mark Zuckerberg didn't respond immediately to a call for help from a skiff that ran out of fuel off the coast of Alaska, but a maritime law expert said Monday the crew may not have been obligated to after the Coast Guard determined the boat wasn't in distress.

A spokesperson for the Meta CEO also said the crew didn't immediately hear the radio call for help and by the time it did, another nearby ship had already rendered assistance.

The Aug. 3 incident gained attention in recent days after a passenger on the cruise ship posted on social media that the captain had said Zuckerberg’s yacht “refused” to respond.

The U.S. Coast Guard said the 21-foot Hewescraft vessel first hailed it for assistance at approximately 9:32 p.m., using a radio frequency all boats are expected to monitor. About 25 minutes later, the Coast Guard determined the vessel was not in distress and issued an assistance request. The skiff was able to make it safely to Farragut Bay after the Wilderness Legacy cruise ship towed it there, and helped it refuel.

When another ship is in distress, everyone in the area is obligated to respond as long as doing so doesn't put their own ship at risk. But maritime law expert Ian Ralby said this situation appears different, and the crew of Zuckerberg's yacht wouldn't face that legal obligation.

“It’s the difference between calling AAA and 911. You need an ambulance on site, that’s a distress call. You need somebody to give you a jump or to tow your car, you call AAA,” said Ralby, who is president of the nonprofit Auxilium Worldwide that focuses on promoting sustainable development and ocean governance, among other goals. It is a big difference in terms of the emergency type, he said. "Both concerning, both needing assistance, but the legal obligations to respond are very different.”

Zuckerberg and his family were not on the 387-foot Launchpad yacht when this happened, according to his spokesperson, who didn't specify what the yacht was doing at the time.

“As the Coast Guard noted, the boat was not in distress, and by the time the crew reviewed the Coast Guard contact on a different radio channel from the one they were operating on, the assist was already underway. We’re grateful all parties are safe," Zuckerberg's spokesman Brian Baker said.

Retired Coast Guard Captain Aaron C. Davenport, who spent three decades with the branch of the military responsible for rescues on the water, said running out of gas simply isn't considered an emergency, and the Launchpad wasn't obligated to help.

“If Zuckerberg’s ship is there and this vessel just ran out of fuel, they’re under no obligation whatsoever to assist them. Zero,” said Davenport, who led rescues in the Bering Sea during his career. “Is it that common courtesy to help other mariners out? Yes, because someday you’re going to need assistance.”

The Coast Guard also isn't going to automatically deploy ships when a ship runs out of gas, but Davenport said that in the harsh environment of Alaska a ship that ran out of gas could become an emergency if it drifts into some rocks or a storm is brewing. The fact that this cruise ship responded saved the Coast Guard a trip.

“Alaska is a remote place so it could easily go from non-emergency to emergency and very quickly,” said Davenport, who worked as a consultant on security and maritime issues for several years before retiring.

The Alaska Beacon first reported on what happened after Michael Love, who said he was a passenger on the Wilderness Legacy cruise ship, posted on Bluesky on Aug. 5.

“Our boat rescued a stranded vessel last night and apparently we did that after the Coast Guard radioed Mark Zuckerberg’s yacht — which was closer — and they repeatedly refused to respond. (There was near unanimous booing when the captain announced this),” he said.

The Coast Guard said in a statement that they determined within half an hour of when the skiff radioed in that the small ship wasn't in distress. A marine assistance request was broadcast on their behalf, and the Wilderness Legacy responded, reaching the 21-foot vessel about an hour later.

Ralby said it's a little unusual that the Launchpad crew missed the call for help because it is common practice for ships to always be monitoring channel 16 on their radios and keep it as the default frequency to hear any distress calls or emergency notices. But typically the Coast Guard tries to keep channel 16 as free as possible so they might announce an emergency on that channel and ask anyone who can help to switch to a different channel to hear the details.

“The situation was resolved without any harm to life," said Ralby, who is a maritime lawyer with experience in more than 100 countries. "It does not seem that there was any immediate issue in terms of threat to life of mariners or concerns for the marine environment, which are the two main things that lead to that urgent distress call where all mariners no matter who they are legally obligated to try and respond.”

FILE - Mark Zuckerberg talks about the Orion AR glasses during the Meta Connect conference on Sept. 25, 2024, in Menlo Park, Calif. (AP Photo/Godofredo A. Vasquez, File)