Don't worship this lot, they don't tell complete porkies like most of AIM boards but you aren't getting the full picture either. They could easily have given a real break even time line but chose not to inform us as owners, the fact they need 2 new contracts to meet year old 24/25 revenue guidance means that was on a wing and a prayer.I don't buy the trade secrets patent rubbish. |
It's quite eye-popping to see how lightweight the BoD were at Sondrel:
Pages 17 & 18: |
 If ENSI's chips are featured in the most advanced LEO satellites, will other satellite operators be interested in partnering with them?
Forbes - January 2024
Is 2024 The Year Of Low Earth Orbit Satellite Services?
Last year, I spent a couple of articles analyzing the business models and underlying infrastructure tied to low earth orbit satellite connectivity. In my first contribution on the topic, I focused on evaluating the differences between Starlink’s and AST SpaceMobile’s approaches, ultimately calling the latter my winner based on the strength of its architecture and of its business model for facilitating direct-to-smartphone connectivity. My follow-up contribution late last summer focused on AST SpaceMobile exclusively, based on my visit veiled in secrecy as the first outside person to tour its facilities in Midland, Texas. That experience cemented the findings from both my initial evaluation and the subsequent news about AST SpaceMobile’s progress in moving from proof of concept to production readiness...
...Starlink first announced its intended launch plans with T-Mobile on August 25, 2022. In true Musk overpromise-and-underdeliver fashion, it took SpaceX nearly 18 months to launch its first set of Starlink satellites that are designed for standard smartphone interoperability; the company began testing of its newly minted “Direct to Cell” capabilities only this month. During that time, Starlink also signed agreements with five other operators, most notably KDDI in Japan and Rogers in Canada. So Starlink is making tangible progress in its promise to bring satellite connectivity to standard, unmodified terrestrial handsets and devices, but, again, this testing is only beginning.
By contrast, AST SpaceMobile has been in the test phase of its LEO satellite direct-to-smartphone service since the successful deployment of its BlueWalker 3 prototype satellite on November 10, 2022. Since then, the company has achieved critical milestones, most notably the first 4G LTE voice call in June of last year, followed by a 5G voice call last September. It is also worth pointing out that AST SpaceMobile has more than 40 signed agreements and understandings with mobile network operators worldwide that represent a combined 2.4 billion subscribers. That footprint is substantially greater than Starlink’s, likely because AST SpaceMobile is not competing with carriers for home broadband services. The latter is an important point to highlight, given that FWA service has emerged as the first killer use case for 5G, as evidenced by its adoption as a prime alternative to cable and in regions underserved by fiber... |
This will be a low volume week I would think, but there are signs out there that buyers are coming in to some issues which appear to have been crushed by budget selling. I do think a lot of people will end up buying back what they sold. The early sellers will make a turn but plenty more will be buying back at higher prices and writing the delta off as risk mitigation. |
An old article but interesting:
ee News Europe - 21/3/24
CEO Interview: Ian Lankshear, EnSilica
Securing the semiconductor supply chain with ASICs
UK chip designer EnSilica is looking to capitalise on the increasing drive for car makers and large industrial companies to develop their own chips.
The pandemic highlighted the importance of the semiconductor supply chain, and this is driving a renaissance in the custom ASIC business, Ian Lankshear, CEO of EnSilica tells Nick Flaherty during Embedded World 2023.
“In 2016 we made the decision that what we wanted to do was to scale the business by selling chips rather than time,” said Lankshear. “We’ve been through the route of developing IP and licensing. Where you really scale is the fabless ASIC model – we are making custom chips and a lot of those chips will include some of our IP, its about differentiation and knowhow, radar, cryptography, RF, analog IP and if you come to the game with an empty toolbox you are at a disadvantage.”
The world is catching up, both for control over the supply chain and for differentiation. “There is a renaissance in ASICs to differentiate your product,” he said.
The company went public in May last year on the junior AIM marketplace, raising £6m for expansion.
“Our real differentiation is we do RF. We acquired the design teams of Toumaz in Oxford, Jennic in Sheffield and a team from Blu Wireless in Bristol, and we have a team of 25 people in Brazil doing roadtags and NFC.”
“We are split into two business units, with the RF and comms working in more advanced nodes from 40nm down to 7nm, and the business and sensor business unit working from 130nm down to 28nm. Those mature nodes you have some great features with high voltage, flash memory and microcontrollers, and the tooling costs is less than $200,000.
Ensilica manages the supply chain, working with foundries such as TSMC and GlobalFoundries optimising the production and yield over time and working with test partners for security of supply and quality levels to deliver parts to customers.
The pandemic was a challenge with the changing pressures on the foundry capacity. While Ensilica is a relatively small customer, producing a few million chips a year, that actually helped, says Lankshear. A few wafers could be critical for Ensilica’s customers but almost not be noticed by the larger customers.
“We are an emerging supplier for foundries so we have worked with customers, and when we didn’t get the allocation we took them into the foundry and manged to get full allocation. Our supply chin team has good connections to foundries and packaging companies.
Working in more mature nodes and RF, the upfront NRE costs can go from $1m to $20m between 18 months to 2.5 years to qualify the chip but that leads to a long term revenue stream for industrial and automotive parts.
One of the first chips the company did as an ASIC was for automotive. “In 2018 we did a chassis controller that was ASIL-D AECQ100 qualified – that was a baptism of fire,” said Lankshear. “We built the team and delivered the chip and its in mass production and we are now an approved supplier for three automotive Tier One suppliers.
“In industrial functional safety, we are now a supplier to a large central European OEM and developing a chip for them for a modern PLC with ARM and customer’s own IP, for us it’s a significant win.”
The company continues to grow, with 130 staff around the world and looking to reach 200. “If we see opportunities for design teams which fit with our markets we can take them on,” he said.
“There has been a lot of consolidation in the ASIC market, and some of those suppliers are not so open to ASIC any more, focussing on standard ASSP catalogue parts so we see that as an opportunity. We have some chips that are the basis of an ASSP where we own the IP but we are looking for lead customers who would be interested in their own versions.” |
Posted on LinkedIn:
Anthony Miller - February 2024
Although its growth strategy has been to acquire design teams, were it not for a change in government policy in Brazil, EnSilica might never have established an offshore semiconductor design centre in Latin America’s most populous country.
I’ve written many times about ASIC (Application Specific Integrated Circuit) design startup, EnSilica, and consider it to be a jewel in the UK semiconductor industry’s crown. Headquartered in Berkshire, EnSilica was founded in 2001 and IPO’d on AIM in 2022.
The story of how EnSilica got the unexpected opportunity to launch a design centre in Brazil was related to me recently by the centre’s Director (and de facto founder) Julio Leão.
Leao has been involved in the semiconductor industry for many years, in the US as well as Brazil. Before joining EnSilica he was an Innovation Specialist at CEITEC S.A, Brazil’s former state-owned semiconductor company.
CEITEC was originally established in 2005 as a non-profit organisation in Porto Alegre, the capital city of the southern state of Rio Grande do Sul. In 2008, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva – aka ‘Lula’ – then (and again now) President of Brazil, brought CEITEC into the public sector with the aim of accelerating the development of Brazil’s nascent semiconductor industry.
However, when Jair Bolsonaro came to power in Brazil in 2019, he started dismantling many of the initiatives launched by the previous government, including CEITEC. In April 2021, Leao, a vociferous proponent for the Brazilian semiconductor industry and spokesman for CEITEC employees, was fired.
Not wishing to see the skills and experience of CEITEC employees be dissipated, Leao approached some 60 international semiconductor companies, from majors to startups, to take the designers on board as a team.
Which is how in June 2021 EnSilica opened its Brazilian design centre in Tecnopuc, the science and technology park in Porto Alegre, headed by Leao, along with 11 of his former CEITEC colleagues.
The Brazilian design centre has since doubled in size, with more hires due on board this quarter. The new centre has been involved in many leading-edge projects, from advanced satellite communications to monitoring vital signs in healthcare, both focus segments for EnSilica.
Brazil is never likely to become a significant player in the global semiconductor industry in its own right. But the country offers access to scarce design skills – at a more affordable cost – which is giving EnSilica the opportunity to expand – and indeed punch above its weight – in the market. |
Share price is currently below IPO price. Financial performance has improved since then, as have the prospects for the business judging by the various contract wins. Looks a good steady bet and a potential triple bagger over time. |
Yeah, I pay the sub for ChatGPT. It's great for making graphs. It taught me about taping-out.
Siemens, Rolls Royce and maybe Bosch. That's proper blue-chip.
Got the possibility of obtaining the fab part of the design:
"Importantly, this Contract positions EnSilica with the prospect of further long-term contracts with this customer beyond this design services phase, to support the ASIC through the development phase and into production.
Maybe small caps will re-rate after the budget and the BoE gets cutting plus the Santa rally. 15x = 69p.
Goldamn out today saying BoE will cut to 2.75% by y/e 25. |
I see someone likes using ChatGPT! (I sometimes use these AI tools myself but find at the moment they - at least the free versions - are not very accurate).
I ruled out Continental because I think it is only an automotive supplier not industrial as well. And as regards Siemens - it would be strange that ENSI did not mention it was Siemens considering they did for the 12 September announcement. |
Val,
ChatGPT:
While the specific name of the new customer is not disclosed, we can make educated guesses based on the description provided in the announcement.
The key clues are:
1. The client is a European-based company.
2. The client is a leading supplier to most major automotive and industrial original equipment manufacturers (OEMs).
3. The project involves motorized actuators, which suggests expertise in mechatronics and motion control solutions.
Some of the potential companies that could fit this profile are:
-Bosch: A leading supplier of automotive components and solutions for industrial applications in Europe. Bosch has a strong presence in the fields of automotive electronics and industrial automation.
-Continental: Another major automotive technology company, based in Germany, with a significant focus on electronics, automation, and sensor technologies for both automotive and industrial sectors.
-Valeo: A French automotive supplier with expertise in electric motor systems and advanced driving technologies.
-Siemens: While primarily known for industrial solutions, Siemens also provides a range of automotive solutions and could fit this profile.
-ZF Friedrichshafen: A German company specializing in automotive components, especially in the area of drivetrains, control systems, and motorized actuators.
These companies have the requisite standing and could be a good match for EnSilica’s design and supply contract for a mixed signal controller ASIC. |
Continuing the guess-the-customer game following today's news, who do we think is the customer for the contract announced on 15 October? It was for an "ASIC to be used in automotive and industrial motorised actuators. The European based client is a leading supplier to most major automotive and industrial original equipment manufacturers."
I've marked it down as Bosch - I couldn't think of anybody else, but does anyone have any other ideas?
Moving further into the realms of guesswork, if today's announcement is for the electric side of Rolls-Royce power and propulsion systems (rather than jet engines) then it would represent a significant advance in recent weeks by Ensilca into this electric motor controller sector following on from the additional Siemens contract and the 15 October news. |
Nice to see some very useful posts from Simon Gordon , very pertinent to the current situation with Ensilica , keep them going Simon |
For anyone like me who wasn’t sure:
The technology “node “ is just the measure of the size of the basic functional part that is used in mutltiples to make up the chip. So the smaller, the more recent and the more power per chip. (Laymans language !)
(That just reminded me of maths at school where the teacher put up a map of the underground and described the stations as examples of nodes, where the distances were irrelevant, but the number of joining lines was fixed, regardless of how you stretched the map). So it has turned out to be useful after xx years ! |
Quora:
The cost of a tape-out for an integrated circuit (IC) chip can vary widely based on several factors, including the complexity of the design, the technology node (e.g., 7nm, 14nm, etc.), and the foundry used for manufacturing. As of 2023, here are some general estimates:
1. Technology Node:
- Older nodes (e.g., 180nm) can cost between $20,000 to $100,000 for a tape-out.
- More advanced nodes (e.g., 7nm or 5nm) can reach costs in the range of $1 million to $5 million or more.
2. Design Complexity:
- Simple designs may be on the lower end of the spectrum, while complex designs with many layers and features will increase costs.
3. Foundry Fees:
- Different foundries have varying pricing structures. Major foundries like TSMC, Samsung, and GlobalFoundries may have higher fees due to their advanced capabilities and technologies.
4. Additional Costs:
- There may also be additional costs associated with verification, testing, and design iterations, which can further increase the overall expense.
Overall, while a rough estimate for a tape-out can range from tens of thousands to millions of dollars, specific costs can only be determined based on the project's requirements and the chosen foundry. |
Sounds very much like RR. to me. |
My first thought was Rolls-Royce, the only other company I could think of was GE, but I went with RR because the contract value was expressed in £ rather than dollars!
Good business focussed discussion on this board the last couple of days - helps to firm up on ideas. |
OK, RR do supply land transport. Their mtu unit provides diesel engines for large plant: |
ChatGPT's answer to the RNS:
The company that awarded EnSilica the ASIC design services contract is described as a "prestigious supplier of power and propulsion systems used in the air, at sea, and on land." Based on this description, the company could potentially be Rolls-Royce Holdings plc, a well-known multinational company specializing in power systems and propulsion technologies for aerospace, marine, and land applications.
Rolls-Royce is recognized for its advanced engineering solutions across multiple sectors, including aerospace engines, marine propulsion systems, and energy systems. The company's emphasis on high-quality, high-reliability products would align with the requirements highlighted in the contract with EnSilica. |
You'd think, but I'm not sure what RR have to do with land transport. I'd say GE, but I think they have split up now. |
That was my thought. |
Good morning all :)
Could this announcement be a £2m contract from Rolls Royce ? |
From a Shares Magazine webinar - uploaded 9/9/24:
Mark Hodgkins
"In the healthcare sector, we have our own IP that we developed during COVID, which we are seeking to partner with a customer. We have identified a lead customer and hope to move forward with them in the next six months. At that point, we will commit some capital to do a tape-out of the chip, which we haven't done yet, as we didn’t want to commit the capital before securing a lead customer."
The ShareSoc quote on moving ahead with the tape-out was from the 18th of September. |
Re the 200m contract that they declined, based on the upfront skin in the game costs they participate in, they could theoretically only require 5% input = 10m. Also possible if they become a sought after quality technical provider with a must have know how, that such skin in the game costs could become a changeable paradigm. |
You can almost taste the re-rating here.Needs skilful leadership, a good product or innovation and a touch of luck. Seems we are 2/3rds there. |
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