July 06, 2020 by Luke James
The acquisition will expand UltraSoC's Xcelerator portfolio and create data-driven product lifecycle management solutions for system-on-chip products (SoC).
UK-based UltraSoC has been acquired by the Texas-headquartered technology giant Siemens Digital Industries Software. Although a sum has not yet been announced for the acquisition, given UltraSoC's high profile, it is expected to run into the multimillions.
After the acquisition, UltraSoC will continue to be based in Cambridge, UK, and the current CEO, Rupert Baines, will remain in command.
UltraSoC develops embedded analytics technology that helps to solve problems in high-tech industries such as cybersecurity.
The company's solutions enable design engineers to more quickly and cost-effectively develop better SoCs that are cheaper have higher performance levels. The company's flagship product line is its suite of semiconductor IP that puts an intelligent analytics infrastructure at the core of an SoC.
According to the company, this provides an intimate view of entire systems' real-world behaviour, which brings benefits like enhanced product safety, reduced power consumption, and robustness against today's most significant challenges in cybersecurity. Even when electronics have been deployed in the field, UltraSoC IP enables further performance tweaks and fine-tuning that improves the end-product.
The capabilities of UltraSoC's IP and its substantial impact on the economics of the semiconductor industry enable the company to address applications in a broad range of sectors and industries such as automotive and IoT. Together, all this makes UltraSoC an incredibly valuable acquisition for Siemens.
Rupert Baines, UltraSoC CEO. Image Credit: UltraSoC.
Siemens plans to integrate UltraSoC's technology into the Xcelerator product portfolio as part of Mentor's Tessent software product suite. Tessent is a market leader in SoC design-for-test (DFT) solutions, and via the Tessent Safety Ecosystem, the company has its strengths in the field of automotive safety.
By adding UltraSoC's technology, Siemens will benefit from a unified data-driven infrastructure that can enhance product quality, safety, and security. It will also create a comprehensive solution that will enable semiconductor customers to overcome challenges and pain points.
These include manufacturing defects, bugs, device failure and degradation, functional safety, and malicious attacks. All in all, this combination will benefit the entire semiconductor product lifecycle, including structural, electrical, and functional SoC capabilities.
"Being part of one of the world's foremost technology companies will allow UltraSoC to better serve our customers by accelerating R&D, leveraging a much larger pool of go-to-market resources, and an enormous global infrastructure," said Baines.
The deal is due to close in Q4 2020.
