Axera’s AX170A Imaging Chip Launched for Business Use

AI vision computer chip startup Axera announced on Thursday that its “Pre ISP” (image signal processor) chip AX170A has been accepted by its smartphone customers, and has officially entered business use in the consumption field.

AX170A is a special AI processing chip for images, with a maximum computing power of 28.8 TOPS and highest independent DDR SDRAM of 8.5 GBps. It can optimize the real-time quality of 4K 30fps images. With the main control chip, it can realize functions of “super night” mode, and can complete the preview and filming of 4K night mode videos.

AX170A integrates a quad-core Cortex A7 CPU, self-developed AI-ISP and a mixed precision NPU (neural processing unit). It is also equipped with LPDDR4 SDRAM, which can support 4-lane MIPI inputs.

Axera was established in May 2019, focusing on building AI vision chips with high performance and low power consumption and basic computing platform to support AI vision tasks in fields including smart cities, autonomous driving, smart wearable devices and others.

Through the deep integration of algorithms and chips, the Axera team has successfully launched two generations of industry-leading AI vision chips – the AX630A and the AX620A – realizing mass production. At present, its main revenue comes from its smart city business.

SEE ALSO: AI Chip Maker Axera Secures $126 Million in A++ Financing Round

Axera has completed four rounds of financing since its establishment, and the total amount of financing of the company is close to 2 billion yuan ($313.9 million).

The latest round took place on January 17, 2022 when it announced the completion of an 800 million yuan A++ round of financing. Its investors include Qiming Venture Partners, Meituan-backed Long-Z, Inno-Chip, GGV, Legend Star and Glory Ventures. In addition, according to commercial information platform Tianyancha, Tencent invested in Axera, with a shareholding ratio of 5.24%.