Sondrel tapes out circuit design for home network customer

Fabless semiconductor company Sondrel announced the successful tapeout of an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) design on Wednesday, for a “leading provider” of home network devices.

The AIM-traded company said the project design contract was awarded to Sondrel late last year, and was fully funded by the customer.

It said the customer approached it with a partially-finished design, and sought to use its industry-leading capabilities to complete the ASIC design.

The design phase of the project had now been completed, and the project taped out.

Sondrel said it would now progress with the new product introduction (NPI) and prototyping services being provided to the customer, ahead of the product being released to production after that.

The project was estimated to be worth £1.8m to Sondrel in 2023, encompassing the partial design and NPI phases, with a view to the ASIC entering production at the start of 2024.

Based on the production volumes and lifetime currently projected by the customer, revenues associated with the production and supply of the ASIC could be worth more than $25m over five years.

Tapeout signals the completion of the design phase of an ASIC and the handover of all data to the silicon foundry, which is contracted to manufacture the ASIC.

The tapeout data is used to initiate the generation of photomasks by the foundry, which are then used to produce prototype silicon wafers.

Those wafers are then packaged and tested before delivery to the customer for prototype assessment.

On approval of the prototypes, further samples undergo qualification and reliability testing before the product is released to production.

“I am pleased to announce this new tapeout, our second since our initial public offering in the fourth quarter of last year,” said chief executive officer Graham Curren.

“This customer wanted to benefit from Sondrel's expertise in completing the design phase of one of its existing ASICs, with Sondrel subsequently responsible for taping out the design, new product introduction and prototyping services.

“This is a clear validation of Sondrel's standing within the market, with customers knowing they will get a fast and extremely reliable service in the design of their chips.”

Curren said all of the company’s end markets were supported by “strong and enduring” megatrends.

“This project specifically is driven by the ongoing increase in data consumption and demand for improved performance which has resulted in the need for increasingly advanced wireless communication technologies.

“We look forward to progressing with the new product introduction and prototyping phases ahead of the product entering production in 2024.”

At 1311 GMT, shares in Sondrel Holdings were up 2.29% at 59.84p.

Reporting by Josh White for Sharecast.com.