Startups ink foundry deals for 5G, edge chips as Intel boosts investment in ecosystem, production
Ventana Micro Systems and Esperanto Technologies have entered two separate partnerships with Intel following the tech giant’s launch of a $1 billion fund aimed at building a new ‘Foundry Innovation Ecosystem’.
Both companies are developing Intellectual Property (IP) models based on a generation of reduced instruction set computer CPU cores known as RISC-V. The latter is an open standard instruction set architecture (ISA) designed to remove condition code registers and carry bits in order to simplify the multiplexers in a CPU.
The news comes as Intel is set to invest billions in new manufacturing capacity as worldwide semiconductor revenue increased 25.1% to $583.5 billion in 2021, according to market research firm Gartner.
Ventana partners with Intel on RISC-V CPU cores
Following the beginning of the collaboration, Ventana will make its RISC-V CPU cores and chiplets available through Intel Foundry Services (IFS) to enable integration into customer system on chip (SoC) devices.
The ensuing components are expected to be deployed across a variety of applications, including data centers, edge and 5G, networking, and automotive, among others.
Additionally, Ventana confirmed it is planning to leverage the Intel partnership in the future to offer a scalable and customizable compute platform combining its high-performance multi-core chiplets with an IO Hub manufactured by IFS.
“Ventana is leading the market in bringing RISC-V cores and chiplets to high-performance applications in the Cloud, Enterprise Data Center, 5G, Edge Compute, AI/ML, Automotive and Client markets,” commented Ventana CEO Balaji Baktha.
“This exciting partnership with Intel Foundry Services will allow us to jointly address leading customer requirements by combining best-in-class RISC-V compute with IFS’ proven connectivity IP, leading edge process, advanced packaging, and reliable supply chain.”
Esperanto to further edge applications via Intel partnership
According to a press release from the company, Esperanto intends to use IFS silicon and chiplet packaging technologies to advance its RISC-V-based technology.
“Esperanto plans to use Intel Foundry Services leading edge silicon and advanced packaging technologies with our next generation massively-parallel RISC-V based AI accelerators,” said the company’s founder David Ditzel.
The firm’s solutions can reportedly offer massively-parallel 64-bit RISC-V-based Tensor compute cores, which are currently delivered in the form of a single chip with 1088 ET-Minion compute cores and a high-performance memory system.
“Intel Foundry Services’ unique packaging technologies will make chiplet solutions both practical and cost-effective, enabling a range of acceleration products to span from cloud to edge,” Ditzel added.
Intel Capital and IFS establish $1 billion fund
A joint initiative between Intel Capital and IFS, the fund will reportedly prioritize investments in capabilities that accelerate foundry customers’ time to market.
These will include intellectual property (IP), software tools, innovative chip architectures, and advanced packaging technologies.
As mentioned above, the fund also established a number of new partnerships focused on key strategic industry trends.
Among them are enabling modular products with an open chiplet platform and supporting design approaches that leverage multiple instruction set architectures (ISAs) across x86, Arm, and RISC-V.
“Intel is an innovation powerhouse, but we know that not all good ideas originate from within our four walls,” said IFS President Randhir Thakur.
“Innovation thrives in open and collaborative environments. This $1 billion fund in partnership with Intel Capital – a recognized leader in venture capital investing – will marshal the full resources of Intel to drive innovation in the foundry ecosystem.”
In other news, Intel has also recently announced a $20B chip manufacturing facility in Ohio that will reportedly support its new partnerships, according to reports.
Article Topics
ecosystem | Esperanto Technologies | Intel | manufacturing | processor | Ventana Micro Systems
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