- Codasip sale fuels speculation about expanding capabilities of GlobalFoundries’ RISC-V processor
- Study License Strengthens Case for Custom Silicon Along with Manufacturing Services
- Growing RISC-V portfolio raises possibility of future competition with Arm and AMD
Codasip, a Munich and Bristol-based semiconductor design company that develops RISC-V processor cores, is selling part of its business to an unnamed public American semiconductor company, with speculation that the buyer could be none other than GlobalFoundries, AMD’s former foundry.
Codasip confirmed that the company will sell its low-end RISC-V processor design unit while directing future work toward security-focused chip architectures and system-level products.
That low-end division includes processor cores used in embedded electronics, automotive systems and industrial hardware, where efficient and customizable designs are widely used.
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A three-part structure
GlobalFoundries is considered the most likely buyer because it spent the past year acquiring RISC-V processor technology through multiple deals.
The company already owns MIPS and has agreed to acquire the intellectual property of Synopsys’ ARC-V processor, expanding its reach to higher-performance, specialized processor designs.
Adding Codasip’s entry-level RISC-V cores would expand that portfolio to simpler embedded designs, creating coverage at both low-power and more advanced processor tiers.
The agreement also includes an extensive license for Studio, Codasip’s processor development software that allows customization of processor instructions.
That capability allows GlobalFoundries, which began as AMD’s manufacturing arm before becoming an independent semiconductor manufacturer, to support the development of custom chips, giving customers the ability to modify processor behavior rather than relying solely on fixed designs licensed from companies like Arm.
Arm has long dominated embedded processor markets through royalty-based licensing, charging fees to companies that build chips using its architecture.
A manufacturer that offers both manufacturing services and custom processor designs creates an alternative path, especially for companies developing automotive, industrial and edge computing systems.
Continued expansion in processor technology could eventually put GlobalFoundries in competition with established chip designers.
Codasip described the sale as part of a broader shift in direction toward what it calls cyber-resilient semiconductor architectures.
Its future development work focuses on CHERI, short for Capability Hardware Enhanced RISC Instructions, a technology focused on limiting software vulnerabilities by applying stricter memory access rules directly to the hardware.
“Cyber ​​resilience has become a strategic requirement for governments, infrastructure operators and technology providers around the world,” said Ron Black, CEO of Codasip.
“Traditional approaches inefficiently build security into systems after the fact. Our approach is to enable partners to build security into the fundamental architecture of IT systems from the beginning.”
The transaction is expected to close in about a month, and then we will know if GlobalFoundries is indeed the buyer of Codasip’s low-end RISC-V processor design unit.
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