https://www.heraldsun.com.au/business/victoria-business/tim-boreh...

https://www.heraldsun.com.au/business/victoria-business/tim-boreham-time-to-make-some-artificially-intelligent-choices/news-story/5d0696d5f34f3a31b0010d6374fc6e60

Artificial intelligence giants dominate global markets, but it’s worth looking on the ASX too, with innovative choices right under our noses, says Tim Boreham.

Weebit Nano (ASX:WBT) is closer to commercialisation with its next breed of nanochips that offer faster processing capacity.The Israeli-based, ASX-listed outfit is perfecting memory devices that will replace so-called embedded flash.“It’s a very exciting time to be in semiconductors because everything in the world depends on them,” CEO Coby Hanoch said.

Weebit claims its resistive random access memory (Reram) chip is up to 100 times faster, more energy efficient and lower cost than flash, with better endurance.Hanoch said most devices and appliances ran on non-volatile memory such as flash, which meant memory was retained when they were turned off.“Because flash has been around for so long it has been hitting a lot of walls and is too slow and power hungry,” he said.

Valued at a weighty $580 million – albeit 38 per cent less than a year ago – Weebit has raised eyebrows because of governance issues, including the circumstances of a director resignation that left the company without the requisite two local board members.While the company has cash of $72 million, it burnt through $12 million in the December quarter.

Hanoch says Weebit is negotiating agreements with some of the top 10 foundries (chip factories), opening the way for royalties.These include DB High Tech, which in turn has heavyweight customers including Sony, Toshiba Intel and Samsung.“The goal is this year to be able to announce one to three agreements with some of these big guys,” Hanoch said.