This move will help to lower the barriers of entry to SoC design, enabling scale-ups to create advanced IoT and AI products for applications covering smart home, industrial designs for smart cities or smart factories, smart kiosks and signage, healthcare tech and more.
Creating a differentiated SoC from the ground up is an expensive undertaking that requires significant knowledge and resources. Companies choose IP as it lowers costs and risks associated with R&D, allowing them to focus on product differentiation.
Imagination Open Access will provide early-stage customers access to a choice of silicon-proven IP, lowering overall risk and providing help through technical expertise, class-leading tools, and consistent technical support.
Commenting Jim Wallace, Senior Director of Strategic Business Development, Imagination, said, “Enabling innovation at scale-up levels is essential in driving technological progress across the industry. Imagination’s class-leading, high-quality IP is silicon-proven, meaning it significantly reduces design risk for those who need it most. Our PowerVR Series8XE GPU and PowerVR Series3NX NNAs have shipped in multiple markets from mobile and automotive to consumer devices, DTV and DCD applications. By removing the licensing fee for this IP, Open Access offers a more accessible route to cutting-edge SoC creation.”
“Imagination is a trusted member of our In-Kind Partner (IKP) programme, offering access to their high-value PowerVR GPU and AI accelerator design IP for our Silicon Catalyst Portfolio Companies,” said Pete Rodriguez, CEO, Silicon Catalyst. “We are delighted that the Open Access programme will lower financial barriers, enabling a range of early-stage semiconductor companies to accelerate their SoC development. Combining our comprehensive IKP ecosystem resources with Imagination’s flexible and scalable IP solutions will help support the accelerated growth and market delivery of the innovations being crafted by companies in our Incubator.”
Open Access provides access to four PowerVR Series8XE GPUs and three PowerVR Series3NX NNAs. A software driver is supplied by Imagination, and compatible open-source drivers are now also available in the market, potentially offering even more features, for even greater customer choice.
