Silicon Valley-based SiMa.ai, a machine learning startup backed by Fidelity Management & Research, said on Tuesday it has started shipping chips and systems to customers for testing, an important step for mass production.
The product, called MLSoC (machine learning system on chip), is designed to process video and images using machine learning and traditional computing on a single platform.
It is designed for industrial robotics, drones, security cameras, satellite imaging and eventually self-driving cars.
SiMa.ai board members include Moshe Gavrielov, an independent director on the world's top chip maker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co's board, and Lip‑Bu Tan, who was elected to Intel's board of directors effective September 1, 2022.
Krishna Rangasayee, SiMa.ai CEO and founder, said while data centres and cloud systems use cutting-edge chips for machine learning applications, chip development for gadgets such as security cameras, and drones have been slower despite the explosion of new internet-connected devices.
"In my mind, it's a bigger market than the cloud. It's a multi-trillion dollar market," he said.
Tan, who has also invested in SiMa.ai, said he was attracted by the company's strategy of building a software platform for the chip that supports all machine learning formats, making it easier for companies to use the chip in their products.
SiMa.ai semiconductors are manufactured at TSMC and used the chip software tool Synopsys to design the chip. Mass production is scheduled for the first quarter of next year, said Rangasayee.
