Intel and Achronix

It seems Intel will not buy Xilinx and Altera since Intel lends support to a start-up Achronix. The deal announced on Nov. 1 would not only help the company bring 22-nm FPGAs to market faster than programmable logic market leaders Xilinx Inc. and Altera Corp., but also give the startup a leg up in 15-nm and future technology nodes.

Executives from Achronix (San Jose, Calif.) said the deal Achronix says the deal with Intel will allow its chips to have 300 percent better performance, 50 percent lower power, and 40 percent lower cost than its previous generation of products. Achronix’s Speedster chips are used in high-speed networking, broadband communications, encryption, high-performance computing, video and imaging, and military and aerospace.

Based on Intel’s world class 22nm process technology, the Speedster22i Platform forms the basis of the latest Achronix FPGA families.

Speedster22i FPGAs have significant advantages over larger geometry 28nm FPGAs. By combining Intel’s 22nm process and the innovative Achronix FPGA technology, Speedster22i FPGAs will yield up to 300% higher performance, 50% less power and 40% lower cost than FPGAs built on less advanced, 28nm processes.

Intel's 22nm process technology yield both performance and density benefits for Achronix FPGAs. The Speedster22i platform will address both of these areas, with up to 1.5GHz performance and devices as large as 2.5Million LUTs.

Area has a squared relationship with linear dimension, meaning 28nm circuits are approximately 1.6 times larger than 22nm circuits. This results in Speedster22i FPGAs having significantly lower power and higher density than FPGAs built in 28nm technology.

The Achronix Speedster22i FPGA Platform uniquely enables applications that require an end-to-end supply chain within the United States. Being built at an onshore location offers significant advantages to programmable logic users who demand the highest level of security. Additionally, Speedster22i FPGAs benefit from the high device reliability inherent to the Intel supply chain.　　

Tim Smith today published a good article:

Intel Lends Support to Achronix Against Xilinx and Altera in the FPGA Industry. Excess Competition or the Rule of 3?