BrainChip Holdings Ltd., a global leader in ultra-low power, high performance Artificial Intelligence technology has recently launched an EPA (Early Access Program) for the Akida neural processor SoC (System-on-Chip). The Early Access Program has been targeted at select customers across various end markets to facilitate the early adoption of the Akida device.
The demand for evaluation systems and engineering prototypes has been observed to grow significantly after the announcement of initiation of wafer fabrication in April 2020. In response to this demand, the leading software company has established an EAP for exclusive partners to ensure availability of evaluation systems for key applications and initial devices. Several customers are committed to the advanced purchase of evaluation systems for a range of strategic Edge applications such as Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV), ADAS/AV, Edge vision systems and factory automation, among others.
The Early access Program includes evaluation boards with the Akida device, hardware & software support along with dedicated engineering resources. The EAP agreements also include payments intended to offset the firm’s expenses to support partner needs.
Optimized and trained models can now be run on the Akida Development Environment to evaluate performance on the Akida processor. With the help of the Akida evaluation board, these exact trained networks as well as control files used in the ADE will be used to program the neural processor System-on-Chip to run the complete neural network. This is likely to aid customers to implement hardware solutions efficiently and quickly.
Louis DiNardo, CEO of BrainChip reportedly said that the firm and team is elated with the level of commitment and interest shown in the Akida neural processor. Major companies in the surveillance market and automotive industry have committed to the EAP or signed Development Agreements. DiNardo added that BrainChip is focused on opportunities in the Industrial IoT, Smart Home area and Smart Health solutions.
