GreenWaves Technologies Partners with Open-Silicon to develop Industry’s First IoT Processor Based on PULP and RISC-V

Open-Silicon tapped for ultra-low power physical design and CPU core hardening experience

Milpitas, CA – March 13, 2017 – Open-Silicon, a system-optimized ASIC solution provider, today announced it was selected by GREENWAVES Technologies to develop GAP8, the industry’s first IoT Processor. GAP8 is built on the open source Parallel Ultra Low Power (PULP) and RISC-V ISA projects. Open-Silicon is providing GreenWaves Technologies with the complete RTL-to-physical design custom SoC implementation that is required to transform this smart IoT concept into working silicon in volume production.

Headquartered near Grenoble, France, GreenWaves Technologies designs GAP8, the industry’s first IoT processor. Based on the open-source PULP project, developed at the University of Bologna and ETH Zurich, the GAP8 SoC is an ultra-low power smart IoT solution that can analyze and classify rich data produced by image, sound and motion sensors. It can function for several years on a single battery and supports software for a wide variety of IoT wireless communication standards. Its 1+8 extended RISC-V ISA cores, combined with a convolutional neural network engine, provide very high processing power that’s uniquely energy efficient and easy to program.

“Open-Silicon’s proven experience in ultra-low power physical design targeted for IoT products will be instrumental in the successful development of the fully optimized GAP8 SoC,” said Loic Lietar, Co-Founder and CEO of GreenWaves Technologies. “FPGA demos of GAP8 are available to customers today, and GAP8 samples will be available in mid-2017.”

“Meeting ultra-low power challenges requires the successful integration of a new class of silicon IPs from several IP vendors, as well as efficient CPU hardening and advanced physical implementation techniques,” said Anam Haque, Vice President of Silicon Engineering for Open-Silicon. “We are implementing GAP8 in the industry-proven TSMC 55nm LP process node, which is optimized for performance at low power and cost.”

About GreenWaves Technologies

GreenWaves Technologies is a fabless semiconductor start-up that develops GAP8, the industry’s first IoT processor. Thanks to its extreme energy efficiency, GAP8 enables smart IoT battery-powered applications, such as image classification, people and objects counting and many more. To learn more, visit www.greenwaves-technologies.com

About Open-Silicon

Open-Silicon transforms ideas into system-optimized ASIC solutions within the time-to-market parameters desired by customers. The company enhances the value of customers’ products by innovating at every stage of design — architecture, logic, physical, system, software, IP — and then continues to partner to deliver fully tested silicon and platforms. Open-Silicon applies an open business model that enables the company to uniquely choose best-in-industry IP, design methodologies, tools, software, packaging, manufacturing and test capabilities. The company has partnered with over 150 companies, ranging from large semiconductor and systems manufacturers to high-profile start-ups, and has successfully completed 300+ designs and shipped over 125 million ASICs to date. Privately held, Open-Silicon employs over 250 people in Silicon Valley and around the world. To learn more, visit www.open-silicon.com