Justin Kinsey’s Post

In our industry, few moments are as exhilarating as tapeout, however, being recognized as a top semiconductor startup comes pretty close. For the team at Blumind, July 2024 will be one for their record books because they accomplished both! I had the pleasure of meeting co-founder and COO Niraj Mathur at Blumind’s headquarters in the ventureLAB building in Toronto a couple of weeks ago, on the same day as their latest chip tapeout. Niraj was enthusiastic about sharing their story and graciously sat with me to discuss Blumind’s progress, their current chip, and his insights into the ongoing evolution of AI. According to Niraj, AI and machine learning are the most potent driving forces behind the current technology revolution and will fuel unprecedented innovation. This wave has attracted many newcomers to the space, yet as the ecosystem of hardware companies expands, Blumind stands apart with a unique approach. He and co-founder John Gosson view the human brain as the “ultimate machine” for handling the complexity of modern AI/ML workloads and in their view, the challenges associated with data transport are "signal processing problems to solve." This led Niraj and John to focus on analog architectures and modelling their chips after the brain's neural networking capabilities. Niraj is captivating to listen to, and I was fully engrossed as he described Blumind’s thesis. Their end goal is to make high-compute, low-power neural accelerators widespread to enable AI in billions of devices worldwide so people can harness its potential and unlock their own. With a mission this significant, it’s no wonder Blumind was recognized by the EE Times | Electronic Engineering Times as one of the “Startups Worth Watching in 2024”. They nailed it with that call, and I will certainly be watching and cheering for Niraj and his team. I encourage anyone interested in AI to watch the clip below to hear Niraj share his insights about analog compute. And if you want to congratulate Blumind for making the Silicon 100, give them kudos for their accomplishment in the comments section! #semiconductorindustry #artificalintelligence #startups

If you haven't heard of the graphics chip startup X-Silicon Inc yet, don’t worry… you'll soon be hearing their name everywhere. The company recently emerged from stealth mode amid a flood of exciting announcements that ranged from their novel graphics processing architecture to their platform that is being requested by premier RISC-V ecosystem partners. I had the pleasure of talking with X-Silicon’s CEO Dan Nilsson and Chief Scientist Atif Zafar a couple of weeks ago as they traveled to raise capital. After hearing from them, these two experienced technology leaders rightfully have reason to be excited about what they're building and will soon be bringing to market. The viewpoint we share is that graphics processing holds incredible potential to bring high-performance AI to the masses, however, graphics architectures are largely stuck in the 90s because they were developed in an era when PCs and smartphones were first gaining adoption but have received little attention and innovation since. X-Silicon promises a paradigm shift to upend traditional polygonal rendering and transition the industry to unrivaled performance. They plan to accomplish this through a software-first approach and will provide hardware and a graphics IP platform built from the ground up. This will usher in what they call the "Personal Cognitive and Edge AI Device Age." Hearing them describe this future—where low-cost, high-compute, AI-enabled devices are in the hands of billions around the world—was indeed exciting, and even though there are companies currently working on certain aspects of this vision, X-Silicon believes they have a holistic understanding of the problems and opportunities and has solutions to address them all. Hear why Dan and Atif believe their “time is now” in the video segment below and keep an eye on this team in the weeks and quarter ahead as we approach the RISC-V Summit in October. I’m confident they will have more news very soon! #riscv #GPU #artificialintelligence

It’s been a remarkable month for AI startups from the Netherlands - Axelera raised $68 million in Series B funding (Europe’s largest-ever series for a fabless company) followed by Innatera's oversubscribed series A, bringing their total to $21 million. The Netherlands has a legacy of innovation, from ASML and Philips/NXP to the Brainport district. Combine these giants' impact with the fact that Delft University of Technology is magnetic and attracts some of the world’s most promising engineers and researchers and you get a region dense in ingenuity and talent. Innatera’s CEO Sumeet Kumar is one of those outstanding alumni from TU Delft and has been a pioneer in neuromorphic compute for over 15 years. His doctoral research on many-core processor architectures, on-chip memory, and advanced interconnect underpins Innatera's technology. Sumeet spun out of TU Delft and founded the company in 2018 and since then, has been working hard to develop a processor with a novel, event-driven computing engine that enables AI to be a reality in far edge devices. The shift in AI from training in data centers to inference on-device is critical and is referred to as the “AI gold rush”. Companies are searching high and low for solutions to enable billions of devices with cutting-edge AI features because it’s in the consumer space where AI will not only impact the lives of people everywhere but can be monetized on a global scale. The key to this transformation is chips that enable designs with unprecedented compute, miniscule power consumption, and low latency. Innatera is addressing all of these needs and more with their breakthrough NPUs. While NPUs show great promise for edge AI applications and startups like Quadric io, Brainchip, and Numenta are developing them, Innatera believes they offer something truly unique with their architecture. It leverages open-source RISC-V cores and an amalgamation of analog/mixed-signal data converters that can process quantities of sensor data efficiently and reliably. Innatera’s potential is promising, but being unique carries risks. Companies exploring neuromorphic processors for their designs will scrutinize their options, especially concerning applications requiring the utmost reliability like drones, autonomous driving, or vital healthcare. As a pioneering startup, Innatera also faces the challenge of finding engineers and developers equally as adventurous and ready to persevere through the highs and lows needed to impact the world as the founders are. My advice to Innatera’s leadership is; to set a high bar and be as ready to screen the wrong people OUT as getting the right people IN. Set the bar high because your mission is signficant, so you have to be sure you build the right team to succeed. #semiconductorindustry #ai #artificialintelligence

Last week’s DAC showcased exciting announcements from startups that are revolutionizing semiconductor design however these rising stars overshadowed a major update from an industry stalwart - Alphawave Semi - whose news is poised to accelerate the proliferation of chiplets and give rise to a “chiplet marketplace”. Alphawave Semi announced a breakthrough with the tapeout of the industry's first off-the-shelf, multi-protocol I/O connectivity chiplet. This technology can seamlessly integrate into larger SoCs or multi-chip modules, giving designers increased flexibility and more connectivity options for different applications. Reflecting on the Chiplet Summit this past spring, I remember listening to Tony Chan Carusone, Alphawave’s CTO, as he passionately described the significance of chiplets and how Alphawave will foster a more open and democratic design ecosystem. Now, just one quarter later, his team has launched a technology that brings this vision much closer to becoming a reality. Adding to their momentum, Alphawave also announced an expanded partnership with Samsung Foundry to advance the industry's progression toward cutting-edge semiconductor nodes, crucial for the evolution of advanced compute. Samsung’s roadmap in sub-4nm technologies includes FinFET and Gate-All-Around, which are designed to maximize performance in the post-Moore era. Initially targeted for data centers and HPC, these innovations may trickle down to low-cost, AI-enabled edge devices, putting the transformative power of AI into the hands of billions of people worldwide. This news follows Alphawave’s early June announcement of their new partnership with Arm, aimed at unlocking the potential of processors. Alphawave will give Arm access to their robust portfolio of connectivity solutions and silicon IP, which Arm will integrate into their proven portfolio of compute cores. At a time when AI technology is accelerating at breakneck speed, many companies are searching for ways to boost compute performance and address the challenge of moving data between compute and memory more efficiently. While multiple startups offer unique solutions, many customers want battle-tested technology to avoid the risk of investing in solutions that may become obsolete by the time they reach tapeout. Alphawave has developed vital solutions and in doing so, has increased design flexibility, built bridges to new process technologies, and shortened the path to market. “Connectors” are often the catalysts of innovation and Alphwave’s is a testament to that word. I’m encouraged by what I’ve seen from Alphawave and strongly believe they stand at the forefront of an emerging chiplet marketplace. More broadly, I believe their technology serves to democratize design technology and will give emerging companies more options to bring their brilliant ideas to life. #semiconductorindustry #ai #chiplets

There was HUGE news in AI hardware this week - chip startup Etched broke a year-long silence and announced they closed a $120M Series A, a story that has taken the semiconductor community by storm. Co-founders Gavin Uberti and Chris Zhu first made headlines in May 2023 when they closed a seed round of $5M and shared their mission to create an ASIC to optimize transformer model training and challenge NVIDIA head-on. Many in the industry then referred to Uberti and Zhou as “two Harvard dropouts trying to challenge Goliath.”. The term “dropout” was used in a perjorative sense. Just a year later, they’ve demonstrated there is merit to their thesis, and visionary investors have taken notice. The founders believe scale is what the industry needs to harness superintelligence; which means unprecedented compute power that can bring AI to everyone, everywhere. They believe GPU performance is hitting a wall, and the existing hardware has a huge moat around it that’s keeping newer and better solutions out of the competitive arena. Uberti and Zhou decided that was unacceptable and started Etched to tackle the problem head-on. They’ve created the world’s first transformer ASIC, called SOHU. They claim one SOHU can replace 160 NVIDIA H100 GPUs, which would result in phenomenal savings in cost and power consumption, enabling companies around the world to make this AI transformation. Furthermore, the Etched team is doing something that would give most startup founders crippling anxiety - they’re going all-in on this application and pouring EVERYTHING they have into it. Uberti’s comment about this put a smile on my face. He said, “We’re making the biggest bet in AI. If transformers go away, we’ll die. But if they stick around, we’re the biggest company of all time.” As a recruiting leader for over 18 years, I’ve met hundreds of leaders and founders but RARELY have I encountered such a precocious team that is willing to commit to a single cause. Startups are hard enough, but building a startup to compete against one of the largest companies in the world is an order of magnitude more challenging. So as Etched builds their team, passion will a “nice to have” but commitment and perseverance will be mandatory. Robert W. Etched’s Operating Chief commented, “The reason we dropped out of school and we’ve convinced so many people to leave these chip projects — [because] this is the most important thing to be working on.” I've been saying for over 18 years that engineers are inherently curious and compelled to act when presented with meaningful challenges and opportunities to change the world. Etched is a prime example of this and while details about the team are sparse, they did attract luminary former CTO of Cypress, Mark Ross, to join them, which gives credence to Wachen’s comment. While the Etched team is in for a long, difficult journey, their future could be remarkable. What’s your take? #semiconductorindustry #artificialintelligence #transformermodels

We’re one day into DAC, and there have already been announcements that will shape the future of semiconductor design. One startup that I've followed closely for two years shared groundbreaking news that promises to revolutionize chip development and democratize accessibility to chiplets. Baya Systems emerged from stealth mode last week, and CEO and co-founder Sailesh Kumar has done a remarkable job of staying under the radar since founding the company, choosing the perfect moment to unveil updates. Baya revealed not only WHAT they’re working on but also HOW they plan to tackle some of the most pressing challenges faced by SoC architects and designers, and it’s inspiring. The complexity of system design, high costs, and long time-to-market for advanced SoCs often means that a chip can be nearly obsolete by the time it reaches customers. The rapid pace of innovation, especially in AI chips, creates an unforgiving environment where promising startups might only have one shot at success. Baya’s solutions, WeaverPro and WeaveIP, aim to accelerate the design and performance of complex single-die and multi-die SoCs and chiplets. By leveraging a software-centric architecture, Baya simplifies development and accelerates data movement between chiplets and dies. This approach reduces the overall costs associated with advanced AI and CPU acceleration and speeds up time-to-market. WeaverPro and WeaveIP have already received the best kind of acclaim, customer adoption, and Baya announced this week that chiplet technology advocate Tenstorrent will license their WeaveIP fabric to scale their AI and RISC-V chiplet solutions. Chip design icon Jim Keller, who sits on Baya’s Advisory Board, praised the company, saying: “Baya makes great, comprehensive fabric tools that start with top-level architecture and allow us to plan at a detailed level… this, coupled with their visualization tools, enables designers to build next-generation chips, chiplets, and IP.” Adding to their momentum, Baya announced a partnership with Blue Cheetah Analog Design, Inc. yesterday at DAC and introduced a combined chiplet-optimized Network on Chip and PHY interconnect IP solution that simplifies the design and architecture of chiplet-based systems. Sailesh said, “In partnership, we provide system architects with a state-of-the-art platform and powerful tools to create the most innovative and cost-effective chiplet-based products.”   I've mentioned before that enabling development is key to unlocking the door to innovation. For founders without deep pockets or connections to investors, gaining access to better tools and proven intellectual property allows them to move faster and at a lower cost, ultimately helping to bring new designs to life. I’m impressed that Baya, a small yet mighty startup, has created this accessibility and fostered partnerships to help proliferate it. My encouragement to the community - watch them closely. #semiconductorindustry #ai #chiplets

On my recent trip to Toronto, I had the pleasure of meeting with a company I’ve been following for a while… and you should too! I sat down with Niraj Mathur of Blumind and learned more about how they’re doing something VERY different in AI by leveraging Analog compute. Blumind is rethinking architecture and designing in a way that predecessors haven't done before. Their interdisciplinary team is combining software, hardware, and physics in a novel way that could rewrite the AI compute narrative. They’ve got exciting news coming soon and you will have to watch our upcoming C-Suite podcast to learn more! #semiconductorindustry #AI #AnalogComputing

Semiconductor industry history buffs will like this… In my trip to Canada I had the privilege of sitting down with Raymond Chik, Hugh Chow, and Richard Fung for a wide ranging conversation on the past, present and future state of the semiconductor industry in Canada. I can’t help but think about how these guys - with their combined 100 years of semiconductor engineering and entrepreneurial experience in Canada - have helped build a strong semiconductor community. Much like Shockley, Kilby, and Moore contributed to the prominence of Semiconductor development in the U.S., these men, while all having different technical strengths have patiently nurtured and created an environment in Toronto where the semiconductor industry is poised for remarkable growth. I want to thanks these men for sharing their perspectives, for hosting me and the SBT team, for everything you’ve done for our industry!

Join us as we explore trends in Canada’s AI/ML hardware startup ecosystem with three of the top leaders in the space, Raymond Chik (CEO, Kapik Integration), Richard Fung (CEO, The Six Semiconductor) and Hugh Chow (CEO, ventureLAB). In this event, you’ll hear their insights about: ➡️ Why Canada has one of the best ecosystems for building an AI/ML startup ➡️ Successful AI/ML startups that have been founded in Canada ➡️ How AI/ML startup leaders can attract and retain top talent PLUS you’ll learn about resources that Canadian startup founders and leaders can leverage to drive growth. If you’re a founder, leader, or investor in a Canadian hardware startup, you will not want to miss this event. The event will be live, so be sure to bring your questions and join the conversation! #semiconductorindustry #artificialintelligence #startups