AI chips, that are semiconductors designed to accelerate machine learning, have many applications. According to Albert Liu, CEO and Founder of Kneron, one of the most promising applications of AI chips is in self-driving cars.
Liu’s AI chipmaker Kneron has been covertly raising funds to enter the intelligent transportation market. It secured a fresh round of $25 million fundraising with strategic partner Lite-On Technology, a Taiwanese optoelectronic pioneer. Among the other investors were Alltek, PalPilot, Sand Hill Angels, and Gaingels.
Since its inception in 2015, Kneron has raised approximately $125 million in total finance.
In San Diego and Taipei, the business has a long list of notable backers, including Hong Kong tycoon Li Ka-Horizon Shing’s Ventures, Alibaba, Qualcomm, Sequoia, and Foxconn, the world’s largest electronics manufacturer and Apple’s supplier.
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According to Liu, the company will be profitable in 2023, which would be an “excellent moment” for it to go public. When asked more recently, the founder was more coy about the firm’s IPO prospects, though he said the listing would likely to be in the U.S.
The CEO believes that an ambulance would not have to halt at junctions if roadside perception equipment could interact with neighboring cars. He went on to say that such infrastructure is essential in Asian countries, where traffic circumstances are more complex than in the United States.
The chips developed by the firm are “reconfigurable,” which means they combine software flexibility with hardware speed. According to Liu, AV’s silicon may be utilized for the vast AI engine within a vehicle and the tiny sensors stacked on the car’s outside.
Kneron presently generates $3-4 million in monthly income from its 30 business clients, with the United States accounting for 30-40% of its revenue. Kneron counts Foxconn as a strategic investor, using the startup’s chips in its “MIH” manufacturing platform for electric vehicles. In May, Kneron agreed to buy image signal processor Vatics from Vivotek, a subsidiary of Delta Electronics.
