Bristol smart microcontrollers get $26.2m boost
Further international investors attracted to Internet of Things-systems focused UK manufacturer
Bristol semiconductor manufacturer XMOS has attracted a $26.2m (£15.3m) investment from Huawei, Bosch and Xilinx to develop its smarter connectable components and embedded applications.
Nigel Toon, chief executive of XMOS, said the funding validated its multi-core technology in the market and improved XMOS' standing.
"Each of these important new partners will bring major strategic value alongside their significant financial investment in the business. This will help us in our mission to build XMOS into a major fab-less semiconductor company," Toon said.
XMOS, which has its main development centre as well as its headquarters in Bristol, has mainly been known for its intelligent multi-core microcontrollers. The new funding will help it expand customer support and accelerate product development, it said.
Steve Chu, chief strategy officer and vice president at Huawei, said XMOS will be partnering with Huawei on a number of potential projects that will help to expand the company's technology.
"We have a very high regard for the team at XMOS and will be working closely with them," Chu said.
Bosch, based in Germany, is known for its technologies for the connected car, as well as other industries and the home. It is its corporate venture capital arm that is investing in XMOS.
Hongquan Jiang, investment principal at Robert Bosch Venture Capital, said XMOS is one of the "most exciting" young semiconductor companies around. Jiang will also join the XMOS board.
"We see a huge potential for its intelligent multi-core technology in various segments of our parent company," Jiang said.
The third new investor, Xilinx Technology Ventures, is the investment arm of Silicon Valley-based Xilinx, a maker of field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), systems-on-chips (SoCs), and three-dimensional integrated circuits (3D ICs).
Privately held XMOS already boasts investment from the likes of Amadeus Capital Partners, DFJ Esprit, and Financial Capital. It has another development centre in Chennai, India.