Reminder from a few weeks ago2 Jan 2025 16:59
As previously announced, the Company has been engaged in discussions with two Tier-1 wireless backhaul OEMs with regard to evolving Ethernity's FPGA technology and solution to an ASIC and these discussions are still progressing.
One OEM has been testing the Ethernity universal edge platform ("UEP") during the year and the other OEM, that is familiar with Ethernity's technology from a previous engagement, has expressed an interest in co-funding the development of the ASIC, with a view to providing volume orders for the ASIC for a period of five years once it became available.
The Company is in meaningful discussions with several well-established Tier-1 third-party ASIC vendors that have expressed their interest in development of the ASIC and, should it commence, the Company plans to select one of them. This ASIC vendor would undertake the ASIC design work based on the Company's existing UEP product and semiconductor data processing technology that is available today on the UEP FPGA SoC.
The Company estimates that the overall non-recurring engineering ("NRE") amount for the ASIC would be in the range of $15m-$17m, including ASIC design, contribution to Ethernity and the associated IP, which would need to be funded by the prospective customers and be accompanied by minimum purchase commitments for the finished product.
Should the ASIC product reach production, the Company believes that there would be an opportunity to generate meaningful revenues from the ASIC sales. In addition, the Company believes there is an opportunity sell it as a complete ASIC based UEP system product to OEM customers.
The Company believes that the ASIC proposals provided to the two Tier-1 wireless backhaul vendors offer significant value for these vendors, both in terms of expedited time to market and significant cost savings compared to existing, off-the-shelf ASICs. While no contract has been signed yet with these vendors nor can there be any guarantee that contracts will be signed, we are making progress in negotiating with one of the two vendors that has indicated an interest to select Ethernity and in funding an extensive part of the NRE required for the ASIC development and the Company is exploring the possibility of additional NRE being funded from another vendor.
Additional vendors have indicated their interest in the Company's proposed ASIC product, including existing customers that use Ethernity's FPGA based solution.