US chip design firm Ceremorphic redefining the future of AI & ML with its supercomputing chips

Polarised between consumer-driven and enterprise-driven, the semiconductor market will face negative impact resulted by deterioration in global economy and weakening consumer demand in 2023. According to a technology research firm, global semiconductor revenue is projected to decline 3.6 per cent this year, to reach $596 billion from the previous forecast of $623 billion. During worsening economic outlook, the focus will shift from big players to fulfil the demand for affordable and sustainable products (chips/semiconductors). To compete with established companies, US-based Ceremorphic Inc, the first company to tape out an advanced silicon node, is a representation of accomplishment for the Indian semiconductor industry. Ceremorphic, founded in April 2020, is the brainchild of serial entrepreneur, industry veteran, innovator and a Hyderabadi, Dr Venkat Mattela, the founder and CEO of Redpine Signals, which was acquired in March 2020 for $308 million. Ceremorphic's Hyderabad Development Centre, its first centre in India, spread over 35,000 sft, can accommodate 350 people. With almost 35 per cent of employees from IIT, the company currently employs 140 people with plans to add 400 new jobs by the end of 2024. With significant investments marked for chip development, the company plans to invest over Rs 70 crore every year in its Hyderabad centre. Ceremorphic, the first to design an advanced silicon 5nm node, targets to commercially launch its product by 2024. In conversation with Bizz Buzz, Dr Venkat Mattela speaks about the semiconductor market and its growth in India

How mature is the market in India for AI supercomputing chips?

Ceremorphic's AI supercomputing chip is manufactured in an advanced silicon node (5nm) from Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Ltd (TSMC). This manufacturing technology is available with TSMC in their Fabs in Taiwan. USA will have this manufacturing capability very soon. So, the manufacturing of such chips in India will not happen in the near future. The market for AI supercomputing chips in India is also promising as the development for Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning is very common in India. This will only become more prominent with time as AI starts progressing towards General Intelligence. India would be developing very advanced applications in AI which means high supercomputing needs.

How far are we in bringing India on the world map of semiconductor?

In terms of the design capability and the actual designing process today, India is on par with any company in the world if not ahead. However, when it comes to manufacturing, the requirements are largely different. In semiconductor manufacturing, even the USA is trying to be on par with some of the Asian companies. It will take a good amount of time for India to compete with China in manufacturing of semiconductors.

Learnings from founding two startups that helps you stride through adversities such as Covid, recession…

There already exists rich experience from the previous entity to learn from and it was very useful for this venture. However, Ceremorphic's product and competition is different from Redpine Signals. Redpine Signals competed with wireless giants in the past and Ceremorphic's play is in computing. We have created a highly competitive product in wireless technology and compared to that computing space is vastly different in magnitudes of complexity. So, we feel very confident of creating sustainable product in this supercomputing space. When you are developing a new product ground up and competing with very respectable companies with huge expertise, remote working becomes a challenge. However, we overcame some of it with the right tools to connect with the team on a continuous basis. Recession did help us as some of these multi-national companies became more realistic in their hiring. When the market thrives, these companies go wild in their hiring process. In that way, recession definitely helped us in a big way as we were able to attract top talent by showing high quality work opportunity Ceremorphic has to offer.

Experience of opening a development centre in Hyderabad…

We have experience in creating world leading technology development originating from India. I have done it in my previous entity (Redpine Signals, Inc.) and will be doing the same at Ceremorphic. It is not a new model for us, and we are very well positioned to execute the plans in Ceremorphic as well. Our experience so far in terms of attracting top talent and executing our plans in India has been extremely efficient. Considering that majority of the time in the last two years was remote working, we are pleasantly surprised with our progress including the 5nm tape out from India.

With over 100 patents to Ceremorphic's credit, what are the next techs that can be expected?

In order to create a sustainable product like the one we have for AI supercomputing; multiple avenues of research and innovation are required. We have a stake in all those areas currently with our field patents. However, the innovation and improvements are a continuous process. We are working on system level scaling technologies in Integrated Circuit development and are also working towards improving all previously worked on areas in the semiconductor space which include processors, connectivity, security and reliability.

After, Redpine Signals and Ceremorphic, would there be another startup in the future?

We are very happy with the progress we made so far and the team's commitment to create innovative products. This is a very big undertaking, and my entire day goes with the current project. I have a passion to do lot of things and will continue to pursue more in the future as well. However, currently, 100 per cent of my efforts are with Ceremorphic. We have developed many technologies in this company already and some of them may play a significant role in our future companies.

Ceremorphic's AI chip works on the lines of energy efficiency, performance and reliability. With further advancements in AI/ML, what would be the next requirement?

Reliability is a new requirement in supercomputing because of the workload of Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning. Energy efficiency is always going to be an important requirement independent of anything. I see security becoming more relevant in the future. We have quantum resistant security offering in our chipset. However, since post quantum crypto algorithms are not proven in the real scenarios yet, security algorithm innovations will go through continuous improvement for the next few decades.

Ceremorphic's AI chip has application in different markets. According to you, what market should incorporate your product right now?

Our architecture is highly scalable in addressing edge to Data centre markets. We believe the AI model training and drug discovery would be our initial markets.

Are you exploring at raising funds?

Yes. However, we are prioritizing for strategic partners. We, however, have a plan in place to go to production and revenue generation with the current resources at Ceremorphic.