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'''Achronix Semiconductor''' is a fabless [[semiconductor]] company based in [[San Jose, California]] with R&D in [[Bangalore, Karnataka]]. It designs high-speed [[Asynchronous circuit|asynchronous]] [[field-programmable gate array]]s (FPGA) chips, manufactured at Intel Fabs since 2012. The series of 22&nbsp;nm FPGAs is called ''Speedster 22i'' and is manufactured using Tri-Gate process.<ref>Dylan McGrath, [http://www.eetimes.com/General/PrintView/4210263 Intel to fab FPGAs for startup Achronix] // EETimes, 10/31/2010</ref>
'''Achronix Semiconductor''' is a fabless [[semiconductor]] company based in [[San Jose, California]] with R&D in [[Bangalore, Karnataka]]. It designs high-speed [[Asynchronous circuit|asynchronous]] [[field-programmable gate array]]s (FPGA) chips, manufactured at Intel Fabs since 2012. The series of 22&nbsp;nm FPGAs is called ''Speedster 22i'' and is manufactured using Tri-Gate process.<ref>Dylan McGrath, [http://www.eetimes.com/General/PrintView/4210263 Intel to fab FPGAs for startup Achronix] // EETimes, 10/31/2010</ref>
Company was founded in 2004 by group from Cornell University: Dr. Rajit Manohar, Dr. Clinton Kelly IV, Dr. Virantha Ekanayake and John Lofton Holt.<ref name="klabs2005"/> It was included in EE Times 60 Emerging Startups list in 2005.<ref>[http://www.eetimes.com/document.asp?doc_id=1157313 EE Times updates list of 60 emerging startups. Fourth edition of the Silicon60] // Peter Clarke, EETimes, 11/1/2005: "EE Times welcomes the following companies to the 60 Emerging Startups list version 4.0: Achronix Semiconductor LLC"</ref> Prototypes of its FPGAs was made using 180&nbsp;nm (TSMC, September 2005) and 90&nbsp;nm (STMicroelectronix, April 2006).<ref name="klabs2005">[http://www.klabs.org/richcontent/Misc_Content/meetings/achronix_nov_2005/achronix_nov_2005.ppt The World’s Fastest CMOS FPGA for Commercial and Extreme Environments] // Achronix, 2005</ref><ref>[https://nepp.nasa.gov/mafa/talks/MAFA07_09_Patel.pdf Reconfigurable, High Density, Gigahertz Speed Low Power Radiation Hardened FPGA Technology] // Achronix, 2009, slide 9</ref>
Company was founded in 2004 by group from Cornell University: Dr. Rajit Manohar, Dr. Clinton Kelly IV, Dr. Virantha Ekanayake and John Lofton Holt.<ref name="klabs2005"/> It was included in EE Times 60 Emerging Startups list in 2005.<ref>[http://www.eetimes.com/document.asp?doc_id=1157313 EE Times updates list of 60 emerging startups. Fourth edition of the Silicon60] // Peter Clarke, EETimes, 11/1/2005: "EE Times welcomes the following companies to the 60 Emerging Startups list version 4.0: Achronix Semiconductor LLC"</ref> Prototypes of its FPGAs was made using 180&nbsp;nm (TSMC, September 2005) and 90&nbsp;nm (STMicroelectronix, April 2006).<ref name="klabs2005">[http://www.klabs.org/richcontent/Misc_Content/meetings/achronix_nov_2005/achronix_nov_2005.ppt The World's Fastest CMOS FPGA for Commercial and Extreme Environments] // Achronix, 2005{{dead link|date=May 2016}}</ref><ref>[https://nepp.nasa.gov/mafa/talks/MAFA07_09_Patel.pdf Reconfigurable, High Density, Gigahertz Speed Low Power Radiation Hardened FPGA Technology] // Achronix, 2009, slide 9</ref>


Achronix has raised over $120 million in [[venture capital financing|venture funding]].<ref>[http://www.achronix.com/company/management.html Management -> John Lofton Holt] // Achronix</ref>
Achronix has raised over $120 million in [[venture capital financing|venture funding]].<ref>[http://www.achronix.com/company/management.html Management -> John Lofton Holt] // Achronix</ref>

Revision as of 14:16, 11 May 2016

Achronix Semiconductor is a fabless semiconductor company based in San Jose, California with R&D in Bangalore, Karnataka. It designs high-speed asynchronous field-programmable gate arrays (FPGA) chips, manufactured at Intel Fabs since 2012. The series of 22 nm FPGAs is called Speedster 22i and is manufactured using Tri-Gate process.[1] Company was founded in 2004 by group from Cornell University: Dr. Rajit Manohar, Dr. Clinton Kelly IV, Dr. Virantha Ekanayake and John Lofton Holt.[2] It was included in EE Times 60 Emerging Startups list in 2005.[3] Prototypes of its FPGAs was made using 180 nm (TSMC, September 2005) and 90 nm (STMicroelectronix, April 2006).[2][4]

Achronix has raised over $120 million in venture funding.[5] According to interview in December 2012 with company chairman John Lofton Holt, Achronix may do IPO in 2014.[6]

Achronix was the first company allowed to use Intel's fabs and had begun shipping of the product.[7] There are 5 fabless companies announced at the middle of 2013 with agreements for chip manufacturing at Intel: Achronix, Tabula, Netronome, Microsemi and Altera.[8][9]

According to Kevin Morris, Achronix and Tabula may become #3 and #4 producers of high-end FPGA chips (First two are Xilinx and Altera).[10]

Products

Early product line from Achronix was "Speedster" FPGAs of 2009, manufactured using 65 nm node. This chip used 4-input LUTs, grouped in blocks of size 8 LUT each. Total available LUT count was 25 - 164 thousands, and chip had maximum frequency of 1.5 GHz.[11]

"Speedster 22i" FPGA, the current Achronix product line, is series of asynchronous SRAM based FPGAs with 140-220 thousands of 4-input LUTs and running at 1,2 - 1,5 GHz clock.[12] There are two sub-families: HD (high density, slower clock) and HP (high performance).[13] In largest variant Speedster has 2597 pins total, 960 are used for GPIO, some are used for 80 SerDes (16 with speed 28Gbit/s and others with 13Gbit/s). Controllers of 100 Gigabit Ethernet, Interlaken, PCIe 3.0, DDR3 are integrated as hard IP cores.[12][14]

Since 2012, Achronix offers some licensable IP-Cores of embedded FPGA.[15] For example, there were projects with BAE Systems to develop radiation-tolerant FPGAs for space.[16]

In the end of 2012, Achronix declared plans of Speedster 22i HD family. First FPGA of this family is the "HD 1000" with 6 billions of transistors,[6] and 700 thousand of classic 4-input LUTs, running at 750 MHz. The chip includes only 12.75 Gbit/s SerDes[13] HD1000 was made on 22-nm TriGate (FinFET) process at Intel Foundries and arrived to the market in February, 2013.[17] HD1000 Development Kits are available for 13 thousand USD.[18][19]

Achronix products aimed to high performance communications segment of FPGA market,[20] including networking solution.[21]

References

  1. ^ Dylan McGrath, Intel to fab FPGAs for startup Achronix // EETimes, 10/31/2010
  2. ^ a b The World's Fastest CMOS FPGA for Commercial and Extreme Environments // Achronix, 2005[dead link]
  3. ^ EE Times updates list of 60 emerging startups. Fourth edition of the Silicon60 // Peter Clarke, EETimes, 11/1/2005: "EE Times welcomes the following companies to the 60 Emerging Startups list version 4.0: Achronix Semiconductor LLC"
  4. ^ Reconfigurable, High Density, Gigahertz Speed Low Power Radiation Hardened FPGA Technology // Achronix, 2009, slide 9
  5. ^ Management -> John Lofton Holt // Achronix
  6. ^ a b Yoshida, Junko (2012-04-12). "Achronix 6 billion transistor FPGAs: Take two". EE Times. Retrieved 2016-05-11.
  7. ^ Foundry Model Challenges Intel // Design&Reuse, 8/28/2013
  8. ^ Intel dabbles in contract manufacturing, weighing tradeoffs // The Oregonian, July 27, 2013
  9. ^ Inside Intel's deal to let FPGA biz Altera use its 22nm TriGate fabs. As Achronix loses its Chipzilla exclusivity // The Register, 26th February 2013
  10. ^ FPGA Wars. It’s Getting Hot at the Top // EEJournal, March 5, 2013: " the high-end of the FPGA market has been a stable duopoly for years. Xilinx and Altera play the one-two roles almost as poster-children for a duopoly marketing textbook.... This means the traditional two-horse race has a very real chance of becoming a four-horse race, which .. has a completely different dynamic than a stable duopoly"
  11. ^ Donald G. Bailey, Design for Embedded Image Processing on FPGAs, chapter: "2.4.4 Achronix"
  12. ^ a b Joseph Byrne, Achronix Speedster 22i Has More I/O // LINLEY Wire, May 11, 2012
  13. ^ a b My Take on Achronix & Its Products, Paul Dillien, 3/11/2013
  14. ^ Tabula, Achronix try driving unique design advantages into solidifed FPGA sector // EDN Network, May 2, 2013
  15. ^ Achronix to license out FPGA IP // EETimes, Peter Clarke, 10/4/2012
  16. ^ Dribble, Cuthbert (2011-07-01). "Fundamentals: FPGAs 101 — Part 2: Different devices". Retrieved 2016-05-11. More recently, Achronix and BAE Systems announced an agreement to jointly develop a reconfigurable radiation-hardened FPGA using a combination of BAE Systems' radiation-hardened fabrication process and a radiation-tolerant version of Achonix's asynchronous FPGA fabric.
  17. ^ Achronix is shipping 22nm Speedster22i FPGAs, Clive Maxfield, EETimes, 2/25/2013
  18. ^ 22nm FPGAs target high bandwidth apps // EDNAsia, 25 Feb 2013
  19. ^ Achronix ships 22nm Speedster22i FPGAs. Achronix Semiconductor has begun shipping its Speedster22i HD1000 FPGA to customers. // Evertiq New Media AB, Sweden, 21 February 2013
  20. ^ Will Intel change the fpga and foundry worlds? // New Electronics, Findlay Media Ltd, 24 April 2012
  21. ^ Network-Targeted FPGAs: 22nm Technology Power/Cost Advantages, Denny Scharf, Achronix Semiconductor

See also