Think Silicon and Ambiq Empower Ultra-Low Power IoT Devices with Smartphone-Class, 3D-Like Graphics

Think Silicon S.A., a leading provider of ultra-low-power GPU IP for embedded systems, and Ambiq, an industry leader in ultra-low-power microcontrollers (MCU), System-on-Chips (SoC), and Real-time Clocks (RTC), revealed today that they are collaborating to offer high-end graphics capabilities to daily wearable device designers.

Ambiq's newest Apollo4 SoC family also includes Think Silicon's NEMA® pico GPU and NEMA dc display controller IP to provide high-performance, low-power graphics. The Apollo4 SoC family is based on Ambiq's proprietary Subthreshold Power-Optimized Technology (SPOT) platform and is the company's fourth-generation processor solution. The Apollo4's complete hardware and software solution allows future battery-powered endpoint devices to reach greater levels of intelligence while preserving battery life. Smartwatches, children's watches, fitness bands, animal trackers, far-field voice remotes, predictive health and maintenance devices, smart security devices, and smart home devices all use the Apollo4.

The NEMA|pico XL/XS Series is an SoC-optimized GPU with display controller IP in a feature-complete design aimed at mid-to-high-end wearables and embedded IoT display devices with the most rigorous power, efficiency, and area requirements. The scalable multi-core GPU IP platform will run on bare metal / RTOS, requiring very little on-chip memory and system resources, making it suitable for memory- and power-constrained SoCs. The NEMA|pico XL/XS Series is designed to save energy by reducing memory and display access while preserving battery life, graphics quality, and performance.

“The addition of the NEMA GPU and display controller expands the Apollo family of SoCs' application space. It enables our customers to create ultra-low-power wearables with industry-leading graphics performance, resulting in feature-rich and uncompromising user interfaces,” said Dan Cermak, Ambiq's Vice President of Architecture and Product Planning. “The Think Silicon IP's simplicity offers our customers a variety of display options, allowing them to support multiple end-product tiers with minimal modifications to the underlying design.”

“By combining the NEMA Pico GPU IP with the Apollo4 SoC family, we will push the limits of what is feasible in high-performance, low-power graphics,” said Ulli Mueller, Think Silicon's Director of IP Licensing and Marketing. “Together, our solution delivers stunning graphics in a power/performance envelope with battery life measured in weeks rather than days, all while maintaining the smallest silicon footprint possible.”

About Ambiq
Ambiq was founded in 2010 to create a cleaner, greener, and safer environment by allowing mobile and portable devices to reduce or remove their overall power usage from batteries. Over the past ten years, Ambiq has been laser-focused on inventing and delivering the most innovative microcontroller (MCU) and System-on-Chip (SoC) solutions available. Ambiq's innovative Subthreshold Power Optimized Technology (SPOT) platform has helped many leading manufacturers around the world in developing products that can operate for days, months, and even years on a single charge or lithium battery.

About Think Silicon
Think Silicon Research and Technology S.A., a subsidiary of Applied Materials, is a leading supplier of ultra-low-power 2D and 3D graphics, AI, and video IP for smart IoT/edge connected end nodes including display and camera devices, as well as embedded systems. Our innovation at Think Silicon allows the accelerated deployment of a wide range of applications on resource-constrained devices while also optimizing battery life, paving way for a more sustainable future in graphics, vision, and AI processing. The headquarters and development center of Think Silicon Research and Technology S.A. are in Athens and Patras, Greece, with sales and technical support offices in North America, Europe, and Taiwan.