KARIYA (Japan) ― DENSO Corporation, the world’s second largest mobility supplier, today announced that NSITEXE, Inc., a DENSO Group company that designs and develops semiconductor IP cores,* acted as lead investor and has taken a stake in quadric.io, a startup company based in Burlingame, California. The purpose of the investment is to help quadric.io’s development of edge processing units (EPUs), which are high-performance semiconductors that could be used as a foundation for enabling automated driving technology.

DENSO established NSITEXE in 2017 to design and develop next-generation, high-performance semiconductor devices to advance automated driving solutions. One of NSITEXE’s focuses is developing a Data Flow Processor (DFP), a new type of processor different from conventional processors such as central processing units (CPUs) and graphic processing units (GPUs). The DFP can rapidly perform multiple complex calculations by instantaneously optimizing calculating areas according to the amount and content of information, while minimizing power consumption and heat generation. NSITEXE is aiming to commercialize the DFP in the first half of the 2020s.

NSITEXE has taken a stake in quadric.io because of its industrial EPU development technology, which it will incorporate into in-vehicle specifications required for automated driving. The quadric.io’s real-time end-to-end edge computing technology was designed to accelerate the development of smart edge products like cars and robots that require instantaneous processing of a large amount of calculations while minimizing power consumption and latency. NSITEXE aims to achieve instant processing of both complex and large amounts of calculations to extend the ability of DFP by accelerating development of quadric.io’s real-time end-to-end edge computing technology.

DENSO has been developing and refining its in-vehicle semiconductor technology for years and remains committed to creating advanced technologies to achieve an environmentally friendly, safe and secure automotive society. 

* Semiconductor IP (intellectual property) cores: partial integrated circuit property that is used to manufacture semiconductors

DENSO Corp., headquartered in Kariya, Aichi prefecture, Japan has approximately 220 subsidiaries  in 35 countries and regions (including Japan) and employs approximately 170,000 people worldwide. Consolidated global sales for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2018, totaled US$48.1 billion. Last fiscal year, DENSO spent 8.8 percent of its global consolidated sales on research and development. DENSO common stock is traded on the Tokyo and Nagoya stock exchanges. For more information, go to www.denso.com, or visit our media website at www.denso.com/global/en/news/media-center/