Imagination Technologies, a global leader in chip designers, recently announced that it has secured a US$100 million convertible term loan from Fortress Investment Group. The funding will go directly into the development of the company's edge graphics, computing and AI technologies, providing solid funding for Imagination's growth goals.
Imagination's history has been full of ups and downs. After losing a key customer Apple, the company was acquired by Canyon Bridge, a Chinese-backed private equity firm, in November 2017. Subsequently, Imagination also sold its acquired MIPS business. Despite the challenges the company faces, including United Kingdom export controls and the complexities of the Chinese market, the new leadership team is leading the company on the path to recovery.
CEO Simon Beresford-Wylie said in an interview with EE Times that the Chinese market was more challenging than expected, with United Kingdom's export controls and China's Entity List having an impact on the company's revenue. In addition, China's Covid-19 response has also had an impact on the market, resulting in a "cash preservation model" for Chinese customers, impacting Imagination's business expansion.
Still, Imagination doesn't stop at innovating technology. The company has been actively driving innovation in graphics, computing, and edge AI technologies and is committed to becoming a leader in these areas. Imagination's full-stack solutions span automotive, mobile, desktop and more, with a product line that includes multiple GPU and CPU families. The company also actively participates in the UXL Foundation to promote the innovation and development of the software ecosystem.
Figure: Imagination Technologies has secured a US$100 million investment to accelerate AI at the edge
Edge AI is an important part of Imagination's technology development, and the company believes that edge AI computing will be ubiquitous in the future. Edge AI is different from data center AI in that it faces limitations in terms of cost, memory bandwidth, and power consumption. But the importance of edge AI lies in providing secure, private, low-latency computing power to meet people's demand for real-time connectivity to cloud services, which is not always possible.
Imagination's LNAs (Neural Network Accelerators) are purpose-built AI accelerators that provide performance support for AI inference at the edge. The latest generation of 4NX provides high-performance and ultra-low-latency AI acceleration solutions for ADAS and autonomous driving applications. At the same time, Imagination is also exploring NNA+GPU heterogeneous computing solutions to meet the needs of different AI application scenarios.
The $100 million investment is a shot in the arm for Imagination's technology development and market expansion in the field of edge AI. Looking ahead, Imagination will continue to embrace the future of AI and drive the convergence and application of edge computing and AI technologies through technological innovation.
