Renesas Electronics Corporation (TSE:6723), a supplier of advanced semiconductor solutions, today announced expanded access to its highly sought portfolio of intellectual property (IP) licenses that allow designers to meet a broad range of customer requirements in a rapidly changing industry. Starting today, customers will have access to IPs such as advanced 7nm (nanometer) SRAM and TCAM, and leading-edge standard Ethernet time-sensitive networking (TSN) IP. Furthermore, Renesas is working on providing a system IP which includes PIM (processing in memory), which attracted attention as an AI accelerator, presented in a conference paper in June 2019. With these IPs, customers can jump start their advanced semiconductor device development projects, such as the development of next-generation artificial intelligence (AI) chips or ASICs for leading-edge 5G networks.
Customers developing custom chips or using FPGA devices for early development can leverage Renesas IP in their subsystem design or speed up software development, respectively, allowing them to focus resources on their specialty areas, speed up the development process, and bring highly competitive products to market. Customers who prefer to use existing software assets can take advantage of Renesas IP assets to achieve more efficient system development by reducing the resources required to develop, verify, and evaluate software and boards.
“Since we first opened our IP license portfolio last September, the responses from fabless semiconductor companies and manufacturers has been resoundingly positive and we are pleased to continue bringing new IP offerings to the market and help accelerate the development of next-generation technologies,” said Tetsuya Matsumoto, Vice President, Shared R&D Core IP Division at Renesas Electronics Corporation. “We are also extremely pleased that IPs using Renesas technology extends the provision of semiconductor devices, and is enabling other markets, such as users’ in-house custom semiconductors, mass production in FPGAs, and deviceless advance technological development efforts.”
“We are pleased that Renesas, a semiconductor vendor, will provide IP,” said Young Liu, CEO of FOXCONN Group.“Renesas provides high-quality IPs that have been mass-produced in semiconductor products, so we can develop high-quality chips in a short period of time. Renesas not only develops IP, but also develops, evaluates and mass-produces chips, so we expect high technical support based on a wealth of experience.”
“Model-Based Design enables a development process in which IP models can be easily shared across the supply chain, giving customers the ability to identify system issues before implementation,” said Paul Barnard, Director, Product Marketing at MathWorks. “To do this, Renesas provides customers with models of their IP in Simulink, as well as tools that extend Simulink to support the deployment of algorithms from models to Renesas microprocessors with verification support using Processor-in-the-Loop (PIL) technology. MathWorks is delighted to work with Renesas on our Model-Based Design platform and expect it will benefit our mutual customers working on automotive, robotics, industrial technologies, and many other fields.”
To support customers’ semiconductor development efforts, Renesas has also established a network of partner companies ready to support users’ unique needs. This network includes design houses that perform contract semiconductor design and technology partners who will provide an array of software and middleware tools. This network will accelerate users’ technology innovations and product development efforts by lowering the barriers to entry for semiconductor device and FPGA development. Renesas can also introduce experienced users to model-based design development environments that fully utilize leading-edge IP.
In September 2018, Renesas opened its extensive IP license portfolio, offering access to more than 40 licenses, including CPU cores, timer IP for motor applications, USB cores, and SRAM.
In 2019, Renesas received over 100 enquiries and have started supplying IPs to many users. Renesas aims to exceed IP sales annual market growth rate of 10 percent, and will expand the provision of IP and support system while creating new, and expanding old, IP markets.
