Periodic Reporting for period 3 - Codasip (RISC-V Digital Architecture for the Next Generation of Connected Era)
Reporting period: 2021-01-01 to 2021-06-30
At the core of every electronic device that enables a product to be connected to the Internet, there is an embedded processor. IoT, AI, 5G communication, data encryption/decryption and other areas rely on power-efficient, secure, and economical embedded processors to carry out their important on-chip functions. These technologies are changing everything about the semiconductor industry. Speed is not the single critical attribute anymore. Energy consumption, durability, miniaturization, and configurability are becoming comparably important as these chips are being put into a multitude of industries and plethora of applications. General-purpose chips are not sufficient here – they could handle any of the tasks but they would then be large and power-inefficient. Thus the demand for custom chips keeps rising. Industry players will compete based on the best chip for a specific purpose – what kind of data capture and communications services their chip enables, and at what cost. Older technologies, not flexible enough to reflect the needs of new application domains (computer vision, machine learning, accelerators for HPC, etc.), together with pricing constraints, lead companies to seek alternative suppliers. As a result, main processor users established an open processor standard called RISC-V.
RISC-V (pronounced “risk-five”) is an open processor instruction set architecture (ISA) standard that can be freely used for any purpose, permitting anyone to design, manufacture, and sell RISC-V chips and software. It is designed to be useful in both high-performance computing and low-power embedded applications. Although RISC-V is open-source, to develop a processor requires very specific design expertise in several specialties: electronic logic, compilers, simulation, verification, embedded software, and debug. This creates a market opportunity for engineering teams capable of producing commercial-quality RISC-V processor IP. For companies that are failing to differentiate their products because they are using the same IP building blocks as their competitors and/or those feeling margins squeezed by legacy providers, Codasip offers a compelling value proposition: a processor IP with very high performance, fully tailorable so that it can be made uniquely for each customer around the world for convenient price, thanks to the design automation in Codasip Studio. We created a broad portfolio of licensable RISC-V processor IP consisting of several RISC-V derivatives for a broad range of application requirements, from very small-footprint and low-gate-count cores to high-performance, high-frequency cores with advanced DSP capabilities, for use in a variety of devices, from wireless sensors to 5G and AI chips.
Our technology supports European Commission action on strengthening the competitiveness and leadership of the European industry & science, in particular the European technology supply, in low-power microprocessor technologies for High Performance Computing (HPC) specifically the European Processor Initiative (EPI), cloud services with support of AI and other emerging applications and new evolving telecommunication standard as 5G. Europe is lagging behind the US and China in the development of IoT and AI technologies & applications. Europe is a net importer of digital services, running a digital trade deficit with the United States of nearly 5.6 percent of total EU-US services trade. Whilst Europe has strong communication and telecommunication technologies, it is in a challenging position when it comes to component and object sides of IoT technology, compared both to the US and China. We have been losing ground in the domestic production of semiconductors, software and consumer electronics devices as disclosed in Rebooting Europe’s High-Tech Industry report. Europe's revenue share of the global semiconductors market is decreasing and today accounts for only 11%. The biggest roadblock is our weak position in the IoT industry. It's paramount that our position in IoT improves, as it represents a major economic driver. Some estimates claim that every Euro spent on IoT solutions could drive up to 12 Euros in productivity gains, purchasing power and savings from economies of time. The countries that nurture the semiconductor ecosystem reap great benefits in increased employment, export opportunities and generally substantial impact on GDP.
RISC-V (pronounced “risk-five”) is an open processor instruction set architecture (ISA) standard that can be freely used for any purpose, permitting anyone to design, manufacture, and sell RISC-V chips and software. It is designed to be useful in both high-performance computing and low-power embedded applications. Although RISC-V is open-source, to develop a processor requires very specific design expertise in several specialties: electronic logic, compilers, simulation, verification, embedded software, and debug. This creates a market opportunity for engineering teams capable of producing commercial-quality RISC-V processor IP. For companies that are failing to differentiate their products because they are using the same IP building blocks as their competitors and/or those feeling margins squeezed by legacy providers, Codasip offers a compelling value proposition: a processor IP with very high performance, fully tailorable so that it can be made uniquely for each customer around the world for convenient price, thanks to the design automation in Codasip Studio. We created a broad portfolio of licensable RISC-V processor IP consisting of several RISC-V derivatives for a broad range of application requirements, from very small-footprint and low-gate-count cores to high-performance, high-frequency cores with advanced DSP capabilities, for use in a variety of devices, from wireless sensors to 5G and AI chips.
Our technology supports European Commission action on strengthening the competitiveness and leadership of the European industry & science, in particular the European technology supply, in low-power microprocessor technologies for High Performance Computing (HPC) specifically the European Processor Initiative (EPI), cloud services with support of AI and other emerging applications and new evolving telecommunication standard as 5G. Europe is lagging behind the US and China in the development of IoT and AI technologies & applications. Europe is a net importer of digital services, running a digital trade deficit with the United States of nearly 5.6 percent of total EU-US services trade. Whilst Europe has strong communication and telecommunication technologies, it is in a challenging position when it comes to component and object sides of IoT technology, compared both to the US and China. We have been losing ground in the domestic production of semiconductors, software and consumer electronics devices as disclosed in Rebooting Europe’s High-Tech Industry report. Europe's revenue share of the global semiconductors market is decreasing and today accounts for only 11%. The biggest roadblock is our weak position in the IoT industry. It's paramount that our position in IoT improves, as it represents a major economic driver. Some estimates claim that every Euro spent on IoT solutions could drive up to 12 Euros in productivity gains, purchasing power and savings from economies of time. The countries that nurture the semiconductor ecosystem reap great benefits in increased employment, export opportunities and generally substantial impact on GDP.
Codasip’s portfolio of RISC-V processors has been enhanced with a new application class processor and multiprocessor capable of running rich systems, such as Linux. First, the processor with a deep, in-order, pipeline consisting of nine pipeline stages was completed in August 2020. The processor has been further enhanced with dual-issue capabilities, and it was completed in June 2021. Second, Codasip developed the memory subsystem for the symmetric multiprocessor. It consists of the private code and data L1 caches and shared L2 cache with ACP port. It was completed in June 2021 and it is being used with the developed processors as well as with already existing processors that Codasip provides.
In addition, we significantly scaled up our company across all internal functions, completed product evaluation flow, improved our market visibility across EU and Asia-Pacific, improved our IPR strategy framework and freedom to operate in selected markets, improved our legal function and processes, set up and documented company operating process model, actively provided outbound communication and established a strong partnership for a security IP solution.
In addition, we significantly scaled up our company across all internal functions, completed product evaluation flow, improved our market visibility across EU and Asia-Pacific, improved our IPR strategy framework and freedom to operate in selected markets, improved our legal function and processes, set up and documented company operating process model, actively provided outbound communication and established a strong partnership for a security IP solution.
The problem we are solving has the following impact:
1. Creation and delivery of the most comprehensive portfolio of RISC-V commercial processor IP in the industry. A development of a processor IP with very high performance, fully tailorable so that it can be made uniquely for each customer for a convenient price, thanks to the design automation in Codasip Studio. Creation of a broad portfolio of licensable RISC-V processors IP consisting of several RISC-V derivatives for a broad range of application requirements, from very small-footprint and low-gate-count cores, to high-performance, high-frequency cores with advanced DSP capabilities, suiting from wireless sensors to 5G and AI chips.
2. We are enabling the European semiconductor market to eliminate vendor-lock situations caused by the closed architectures (e.g. Arm) and allow for a timely transition to RISC-V, enabling its mainstreaming, by catering to a wide range of semiconductor vendors’ needs, continually introducing new cores to market in a timely fashion. Consequently, we are also easing their supply chain management.
3. We are enabling customers to differentiate their products through processor IP that is automatically tailored to their specific design and software requirements, and to do so with less cost and risks, even compared to general-purpose components.
4. We help increase Europe’s autonomy and strengthen its competitiveness and leadership in strategic technologies, in particular the low-power microprocessor technologies, cloud services with support of AI and other emerging applications and new evolving telecommunication standards such as 5G.
1. Creation and delivery of the most comprehensive portfolio of RISC-V commercial processor IP in the industry. A development of a processor IP with very high performance, fully tailorable so that it can be made uniquely for each customer for a convenient price, thanks to the design automation in Codasip Studio. Creation of a broad portfolio of licensable RISC-V processors IP consisting of several RISC-V derivatives for a broad range of application requirements, from very small-footprint and low-gate-count cores, to high-performance, high-frequency cores with advanced DSP capabilities, suiting from wireless sensors to 5G and AI chips.
2. We are enabling the European semiconductor market to eliminate vendor-lock situations caused by the closed architectures (e.g. Arm) and allow for a timely transition to RISC-V, enabling its mainstreaming, by catering to a wide range of semiconductor vendors’ needs, continually introducing new cores to market in a timely fashion. Consequently, we are also easing their supply chain management.
3. We are enabling customers to differentiate their products through processor IP that is automatically tailored to their specific design and software requirements, and to do so with less cost and risks, even compared to general-purpose components.
4. We help increase Europe’s autonomy and strengthen its competitiveness and leadership in strategic technologies, in particular the low-power microprocessor technologies, cloud services with support of AI and other emerging applications and new evolving telecommunication standards such as 5G.