Reconfigurable semiconductor IP start-up raises $14 million - backed by 3i, Actel, HP

Bristol, UK. - 30 July 2001 - Elixent, a UK start-up backed by venture capitalist 3i Group and industrial investors Actel Corporation and Hewlett-Packard Company, today announced it has raised initial funding of $14 million (£10 million). Elixent will use this funding to bring its semiconductor intellectual property (IP) technology to market.

Elixent's patented reconfigurable technology enables companies producing electronic products to save chip redesign and manufacturing costs that often run into millions of dollars. These companies can design custom chips containing Elixent's embeddable technology that can be reconfigured to perform different functions. This feature enables the chips to be used in more than one product and saves the enormous cost of producing a new design.

An additional benefit is that companies can rapidly introduce new and upgraded versions of their products to meet changing market requirements. Furthermore, the technology can be used to enable one product to perform multiple functions - for instance a mobile phone could also support MP3 playback without additional manufacturing cost.

Previously, system designers considering custom chips have had to choose between FPGAs (field programmable gate arrays) with high unit price and ASICs (application specific integrated circuits) with a substantial initial design cost and fixed function design. Elixent?s embedded reconfigurable arithmetic logic unit (ALU) array will drive a new approach to custom silicon design in which platform chips combine the low unit cost characteristic of ASICs with the programmability of FPGAs.

"Our technology will be attractive to companies designing product families with feature flexibility and short lifecycles where low cost and fast time to market are important," commented Peter van Cuylenburg, Elixent?s chairman. "We are initially targeting industrial and consumer products in the imaging and communications markets. Our backing from significant industry players such as 3i, Actel and HP helps give Elixent the resources and relationships to fully exploit the exciting market potential of its technologies.?

One example of an imaging application is a digital still camera where Elixent?s technology could provide performance improvements, such as reduced shot-to-shot and shutter delay. The reconfigurable nature of the company?s technology will enable the same chip to deliver a wide range of marketable features such as, for example, improved image quality, improved compression formats, and innovative special effects.

"The advent of reconfigurable IP cores tuned for computation provides an important new platform for deploying embedded DSP in SoC (system on chip) devices," said Will Strauss, Forward Concepts. "I believe this will be a major trend in the development of embedded DSP over the next few years."

Elixent?s patented IP is designed to be embedded in complex system chips used in applications such as digital cameras and printers. A reconfigurable ALU array allows the configuration and the computational functionality to be easily changed after silicon has been fabricated. A single chip can then be used to provide different features to a range of products, or upgrade the functionality of a single product, without the massive cost of designing a new ASIC. Comprehensive tools will allow the simple integration of Elixent?s IP into custom chip designs using standard design methodologies while supporting high-level language design entry.

"Reconfigurable platform chips bring a new dimension to the design of digital technology-based products," added Kenn Lamb, Chief Executive Officer, Elixent. "The benefits of reconfigurability - including; time to market, feature flexibility, and the optimisation of cost, size and power consumption - will be easily accessible to chip designers utilising Elixent's tools and products."

"Reconfigurable platform chips bring a new dimension to the design of digital technology-based products," added Kenn Lamb, Chief Executive Officer, Elixent. "The benefits of reconfigurability - including; time to market, feature flexibility, and the optimisation of cost, size and power consumption - will be easily accessible to chip designers utilising Elixent's tools and products."

Comments from backers

3i Group
?Elixent represents an important strategic investment for 3i's semiconductor portfolio,? said Laurence Garrett, Director Semiconductor Group, 3i Group, Europe's leading venture capitalist. ?The market for reconfigurable hardware and related software tools is set for rapid growth. The Elixent team have worked on this opportunity for many years, created robust IPR and have the opportunity to successfully grow into a major international company.?

Actel Corporation
?Elixent is developing competitive reconfigurable cores for embedded DSP computation that complements Actel?s own industry-leading VariCore embedded FPGA product offering,? stated Dr. Yankin Tanurhan, senior director of Actel?s embedded FPGA effort. ?We believe Elixent?s mix of assets and technology is highly synergistic with Actel?s roadmap. Together, the technologies of both companies will help drive the rapidly expanding embedded reconfigurable market opportunity in SoCs.?

Hewlett-Packard Company
?Elixent?s technology can enable families of high-volume products to be developed around an affordable and scaleable processing architecture,? said Hoyle Curtis, Director of Strategic Alliances for HP Laboratories. ?This technology has the potential to be a critical enabler for platform-based design of electronic products.?

Further information contact:
Paul Jordan, Marketing Director, Elixent
Castlemead, Lower Castle Street,
Bristol, BS1 3AG, UK
Tel: +44 (0) 117 9175772
Email: paul.jordan@elixent.com
Website http://www.elixent.com

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