XMOS
 | |
| Company type | Private |
|---|---|
| Industry | Semiconductors |
| Founded | July 2005, Bristol, UK |
| Headquarters | , |
Key people | Mark Lippet (CEO & President) |
| Products | Voice controllers, Multicore microcontrollers, xCore, xCORE-200, xCORE-AUDIO, xCORE-VOICE, xCORE VocalFusion, xTIMEcomposer |
| Brands | xCORE, VocalFusion |
| Website | www |
XMOS is a fabless semiconductor company that develops audio products and multicore microcontrollers. The company uses artificial intelligence and other sensors in the platforms that it develops. It creates voice interface technology developments for applications in various services that are voice activated.[1]
History
[edit]XMOS was founded in July 2005 by Ali Dixon, James Foster, Noel Hurley, David May, and Hitesh Mehta.[2] It received seed funding from the University of Bristol enterprise fund, and Wyvern seed fund.[3]
The name XMOS is a loose reference to Inmos. Some concepts found in XMOS technology (such as channels and threads) are part of the Transputer legacy.[4]
In the autumn of 2006, XMOS secured funding from Amadeus Capital Partners, DFJ Esprit, and Foundation Capital.[5] It also has strategic investors Robert Bosch Venture Capital GmbH, Huawei Technologies, and Xilinx Inc, which in 2014 invested $26.2 million.[6] Additionally, they received an investment through the sale of 22.3% of the Company's shares to Prelude Trust plc of Cambridge.[7] In September 2017, XMOS secured $15M in an investment round led by Infineon.[8]
In July 2017, XMOS acquired SETEM,[9][10] a company that specialises in audio algorithms for source separation.[11][12]
In 2019, XMOS raised $19 million in funding from Harbert European Growth Capital and existing investors.[13]
In December 2023, XMOS signed a joint development agreement with Sonical for Headphone 3.0 technology.[14]
Products
[edit]Xmos designs multicore microcontrollers under the xCORE series. While the second generation launched in 2015, had dedicated audiocontroller spun off[15] and were used in soundboards as well as headphone amplifiers,[16][17] the third generation was launched in 2020 and focused on applications within the AIoT.[18] The fourth generation added RISC-V compatibility and was announced in December 2022.[19][20]
References
[edit]- ^ "XMOS Overview". pitchbook.com. Retrieved 17 April 2024.
- ^ "SETsquared Bristol case study: XMOS". SETsquared Bristol. 25 June 2018. Retrieved 13 December 2023.
- ^ Wiggers, Kyle (13 February 2020). "XMOS unveils Xcore.ai, a powerful chip designed for AI processing at the edge". VentureBeat. Retrieved 13 December 2023.
- ^ "Transputer inventor gets funding for his latest semiconductor start up". Science|Business. Retrieved 13 December 2023.
- ^ Peter Clarke (6 September 2007). "XMOS raises $16 million in Series A funding". EE Times Europe. Retrieved 2 February 2009.
- ^ "XMOS Adds Bosch, Huawei and Xilinx as Strategic Investors to Complete $26M Investment Round". www.businesswire.com. 21 July 2014. Retrieved 13 December 2023.
- ^ "Transputer inventor gets funding for his latest semiconductor start up". Science|Business. 2 October 2006. Retrieved 26 January 2024.
- ^ Stefan Nicola (7 September 2017). "Funding Boost for U.K. Chip Firm Aiming at Amazon, Apple Voice-Control Market". Bloomberg. Retrieved 7 September 2017.
- ^ Neil Tyler (10 July 2017). "XMOS acquires Setem Technologies to drive the development of next generation voice interfaces". new electronics. Retrieved 10 July 2017.
- ^ Clive Maxfield (12 July 2017). "XMOS Setem could be a game-changer for embedded speech". Embedded.com. Retrieved 14 July 2017.
- ^ "XMOS acquires Setem Technologies, Inc., to drive the development of next generation voice interfaces". EEJournal. 14 July 2017. Retrieved 13 December 2023.
- ^ "XMOS Setem could be a game-changer for embedded speech". embedded.com. 12 July 2017. Retrieved 13 December 2023.
- ^ "XMOS secures $19M funding to accelerate growth". Design And Reuse. Retrieved 13 December 2023.
- ^ Flaherty, Nick (8 December 2023). "Sonical, XMOS team on Headphone 3.0 dongle". eeNews Europe. Retrieved 11 March 2024.
- ^ "XMOS shipping hi-res audio". electronicsweekly.com. 23 March 2015. Retrieved 7 February 2024.
- ^ "EVGA Nu Audio Pro Review: Who Needs a Sound Card in 2020?". tomshardware.com. 17 February 2020. Retrieved 7 February 2024.
- ^ "miniDSP Launches IL-DSP Tiny Headphone Amplifier Based on XMOS xCORE-200". audioxpress.com. 28 August 2019. Retrieved 7 February 2024.
- ^ "XMOS adapts Xcore into AIoT 'crossover processor'". 10 February 2020. Retrieved 7 February 2024.
- ^ "Brit chip company picks RISC-V for next-gen microcontrollers". theregister.com. 12 December 2022. Retrieved 7 February 2024.
- ^ "XMOS Joins RISC-V Ecosystem". eetimes.com. 30 May 2023. Retrieved 7 February 2024.