US-based chipmaker Intel’s corporate venturing arm, Intel Capital, launched a $1bn investment vehicle with its semiconductor fabrication business, Intel Foundry Services (IFS), yesterday to foster an innovation ecosystem surrounding fab technology.
The fund will back early-stage developers of foundry-related technologies with the potential to help reduce the time to market for IFS’s customers, covering areas such as intellectual property (IP), software, innovative semiconductor architectures and advanced packaging.
IFS president Randhir Thakur said: “Intel is an innovation powerhouse, but we know that not all good ideas originate from within our four walls – innovation thrives in open and collaborative environments.
“This $1bn fund in partnership with Intel Capital – a recognised leader in venture capital investing – will marshal the full resources of Intel to drive innovation in the foundry ecosystem.”
Saf Yeboah, senior vice-president and chief strategy officer at Intel, added: “Intel Capital’s history and expertise are rooted in chips. Over the last 30 years, we have invested over $5bn into 120 companies supporting the semiconductor manufacturing ecosystem, from the materials coming out of the ground to the software tools used to implement a design.
“Our investments, which range from pathfinding bets into early-stage companies to deeply strategic and collaborative investments, drive innovation across architecture, IP, materials, equipment and design.”
Intel has also formed alliances with companies that have a similar focus to the fund, especially those providing RISC-V – a type of licence-free instruction set architecture developed at University of California, Berkeley – such as Andes Technology, Esperanto Technologies, SiFive and Ventana Micro Systems.
Other chip foundries, like Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company and Samsung, have been facing capacity shortages and rising fab costs since the second half of 2020 due to strong demand across areas from automotive chips to 5G smartphones, triggering Intel’s drive to reinstate its position in the industry.
Intel intends to grow its foundry customer base to cover RISC-V and other products traditionally competing with its own offering in a bid to keep up with peers such as AMD and Arm.
As part of the plan, IFS also launched an industry partnership dubbed IFS Accelerator yesterday intended to help it transform from a fabrication-focused business to a comprehensive semiconductor service provider.
Image courtesy of Intel Corporation.
