Microchip Technology has completed its acquisition of Hailo, giving the chipmaker a ready-made collection of edge AI accelerators, vision processors and robotics silicon.
The deal, first announced in July, closed on 21 September. Financial terms were not disclosed, and Microchip said the purchase was not expected to materially affect its financial results.
For those not in the know, Hailo specialises in running AI workloads locally rather than shipping everything off to a data centre. Its hardware targets systems where power consumption, response times, or privacy make sending data to somebody else’s cloud less attractive.
The company’s portfolio includes Hailo-8 AI accelerators, Hailo-10 hardware for generative AI workloads and Hailo-15 vision processors. Its technology supports conventional computer vision alongside transformers, multimodal workloads and video analytics.
That gives Microchip considerably more AI hardware to bolt onto its existing embedded processors, FPGAs, connectivity products, security chips and analogue components.
Microchip chief executive and chairman Steve Sanghi said AI was becoming a basic capability across embedded systems, including industrial automation, robotics, transport and intelligent infrastructure.
“Hailo strengthens our ability to deliver complete, production-ready platforms that enable customers to deploy intelligent systems at scale,” Sanghi said.
Microchip reckons the combination will cover everything from low-power smart cameras to autonomous machines and high-performance robotics.
Hailo brings more than 100 existing customers and a developer community of more than 10,000 users. That is useful to Microchip because flogging AI silicon is rather easier when developers already know how to make the stuff work.
The chipmaker said it will continue supporting Hailo’s existing hardware, software environment and customer projects. It plans further investment in development tools and future AI technology rather than buying the company simply to bury its products in a corporate cupboard.
Hailo founder and chief executive Orr Danon said joining Microchip would give the company access to a much larger customer base and global sales operation.
“Microchip’s global reach, customer relationships and embedded systems expertise provide a powerful platform for expanding access to advanced Edge AI and vision technologies,” Danon said.
The acquisition fits Microchip’s broader push deeper into edge AI processing. It previously bought Neuronix AI Labs, which brought neural-network optimisation technology for workloads running on FPGAs and SoCs.
Hailo fills a different hole by giving Microchip dedicated AI accelerators and vision processors rather than expecting customers to cobble everything together from more general-purpose embedded parts. Microchip is particularly interested in industrial systems, cameras, drones and robotics where local processing can avoid the latency and network dependency involved in cloud AI.
