Press Releases

Grenoble – France, May 11, 2023 – Kalray (Euronext Growth Paris : ALKAL), a leading provider of hardware and software technologies for high-performance, data-centric computing markets, from cloud to edge, is pleased to announce that the IP-CUBE project, led by Kalray, has won the “Technological Maturation and Demonstration of Embedded Artificial Intelligence Solutions” call for projects under the “France Relance 2030 – Future Investments” plan. Kalray’s next-generation high-performance, low-power DPU processor is at the heart of the project.

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE, EDGE COMPUTING, AND SEMICONDUCTORS – MAJOR CHALLENGES FOR THE COMING DECADES

Use cases linked to artificial intelligence (AI) are developing exponentially. Whereas the massive diffusion of AI currently relies heavily on the use of computing resources located in the cloud, there is a growing need for solutions allowing the use of AI in a more reactive, more secure, and less energy hungry way for users. These AI solutions will be deployed in particular in embedded systems as well as local data centers (“edge data centers”) that aim to process data closer to where it is generated, as efficiently as possible. This is known as “edge computing”, a fast-growing market estimated to be worth several billion Euros(1) by 2025 that is comprised of vast areas of the economy such as the telecommunications, new generation of manufacturing, IoT, automotive industry, aerospace, and defense.

However, embedded AI and edge computing require new types of processors and new semiconductor
technologies to process and accelerate AI algorithms and meet new technological challenges; high performance, but also low power consumption, low latency, and security.

The IP-CUBE project, led by Kalray, aims to meet these challenges and create the foundations of a French semiconductor ecosystem in the field of edge computing and embedded AI, based on the national leaders in the field, namely Arteris, Kalray, Secure-IC, and Thales.

FINANCING OF STRATEGIC AND SOVEREIGN TECHNOLOGIES

The IP-CUBE project, totaling €36.7M, will directly participate in funding key technology building blocks in this area, particularly Kalray’s next-generation Dolomites™ DPU processor for the amount of €10M, Arteris’ nextgeneration NoC (Network-On-Chip), Secure-IC’s specialized IP (intellectual property) development for security, and Thales’ RISC-V-based low-power component development.

“We are very pleased that the IP-CUBE project has been selected. It will not only allow us to finance a significant part of the development of our 4th generation DPU processor, but also to develop, in collaboration with our partners, the French know-how and technologies in the strategic semiconductor fields around AI applications,“ said Eric Baissus, CEO of Kalray.

Kalray is the only company in France and Europe to offer DPU (Data Processing Unit) processors, a new type of low-power, high-performance programmable processor, capable of processing data on the fly and multiple applications (AI and others) in parallel, while providing the required security features.

As a pioneer in the field, Kalray has developed a unique expertise and an innovative technology based on its patented MPPA® (Massively Parallel Processor Array) architecture, the cornerstone of its DPU processors and
acceleration cards. This technological leadership enables Kalray to offer a serious French and European alternative to the predominantly American or Chinese technology players. At the end of 2022, Kalray announced the signing of a framework contract with a major NASDAQ-listed customer to supply its high-performance DPU cards.

“In the current geopolitical context, the semiconductor industry has become essential, both in terms of production tools and technological know-how for designing processors. France and Europe need production plants, but they also need companies capable of designing the processors that will be manufactured in these plants, and that will be at the heart of tomorrow’s markets. We are delighted with the strong support from France through the IP-CUBE project, and the support from Europe through other collaborative projects, such as the EPI (European Processor Initiative), in which Kalray is also participating, to help us achieve our ambition of making Kalray the future European Nvidia,” concluded Eric Baissus.

(1)
McKinsey – AI-related semiconductor market.
Intel: « Edge computing solutions place Internet of Things (IoT) devices, gateways, and computing infrastructure as close as possible to the source of data » by leveraging « Intelligent edge devices [which] offer capabilities like onboard analytics or AI ».
NVIDIA: https://blogs.nvidia.com/blog/2019/10/22/what-is-edge-computing/