Kneron

Kneron American is a chip developer that is used in smart video cameras assistants, biometric locks and allows you to run algorithms artificial intelligence directly on the device itself instead of processing on. servers Such chips can be used in unmanned (), cars Autopilot quadracopters and, as well as UAV intelligent systems, sensors and video surveillances IoT industrial robots. The startup was founded in 2015  by engineers from leading  companies in the microelectronics market (,, etc.). Qualcomm Samsung Kneron  has patents for its  hardware and software, including   chip development  and compression algorithm.

History

2021

Raising $7 million from Delta Electronics

At the end of April 2021, the developer of AI chips for unmanned cars and drones Kneron attracted $7 million in investments from the Taiwanese supplier of power components for Apple and TeslaDelta Electronics. The total amount of funds raised by the startup increased to more than $100 million.

As part of the deal, Kneron also agreed to buy the Vatics business, which is part of Vivotek (a subsidiary of Delta Electronics) for $10 million in cash. According to Techcrunch, new assets will complement Kneron's business, as the startup expands its presence in the fast-growing smart car market.

After the deal, Vatics executives will join the Kneron team and head the company's CCTV development division. Combined teams in the future will jointly develop video surveillance solutions and products for the automotive industry. Image signal processors combined with neural processors can more efficiently detect objects and ensure the safety of automated cars.

Kneron offers chips for various scenarios - from production, smart homes, smartphones, robotics, video surveillance and payment processing to autonomous driving. In the automotive sector, the company has established partnerships with Foxconn and Otus, a supplier of Honda and Toyota. Kneron chips have low power consumption and allow you to process data directly on chips using startup proprietary software, which is a departure from solutions that require computing data through powerful cloud centers.

This acquisition will allow us to offer end-to-end AI solutions with NPU leading in class and significantly accelerate our market launch strategy, said Kneron founder and CEO Albert Liu.[1]

MTS invested in Kneron

March 26, 2021 MTS announced the investment of $10 million in Kneron. Thanks to this transaction, which was concluded by MTS Artificial Intelligence Center LLC (MTS AI), which is part  of the telecommunications group, this company, among other things, becomes  the only Kneron chip and technology distributor in  Russia. MTS AI will also be able to create its own line of AI-ready products  using Kneron technologies, according to a press release received by TAdviser.

MTS invested $10 million in the American developer of AI chips

The head of MTS AI, Alexander Khanin, noted that an acute shortage of AI chips is observed throughout the world. According to him, there are very few companies that already have finished chips and products based on them. Kneron is engaged in the development and sale of microchips used for accelerated and energy-efficient processing of artificial intelligence algorithms and related software.  According to MTS forecasts, the volume of the global AI chip market will grow by 25% per year.

According to Crunchbase, since its inception, Kneron has raised $73 million in investments from companies such as Horizons Ventures, Alibaba Group, Sequoia Capital, Qualcomm, etc.

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