SCALINX, a Paris, France-based fabless semiconductor company that specializes in advanced signal conversion chips and was founded in 2015, has secured €10.5 million in its latest funding round led by WaterStart Capital in conjunction with CEN Innovation and Unexo.
According to SCALINX, the funding will be used to boost its high-speed wideband data chip designs in critical 5G and radar markets, increase capacity to support new customers, and grow its teams based in Paris, Caen, and Grenoble.
Signal Conversion ASICs
The emergence of digital sensors and mmWave communications is pushing suppliers of analog-to-digital (ADC) and digital-to-analog (DAC) converters toward more integration while demand for wider analog bandwidth continues to grow.
SCALINX claims its signal conversion IP blocks can accelerate ASIC design. Image used courtesy of SCALINX
SCALINX says its solutions address these needs.
The company specializes in signal conversion ASICs. According to the company, its tailor-made solutions bring together analog and digital using high-speed data converters formed on its proprietary SCCORE technology, which itself is formed on proprietary continuous-time (CT) ΔΣ ADC architectures for high-speed wireless and millimeter-wave wireless networks.
SCALINX Raises the SCCORE
SCCORE is said to enable alias-free data conversion solutions where signal filtering is carried out in programmable digital circuitry.
The use of its own technology also enables SCALINX to produce signal conversion ASICs with high noise performance using low-power multi-bit architectures, instant overload recovery, and a high degree of flexibility from a dominant digital architecture. The company’s ADC and DAC signal conversion IP blocks are also based on this proprietary SCCORE technology.
Voltage and current references of a SCALINX signal conversion ASIC. Image used courtesy of SCALINX
SCALINX claims its IP-based designs help improve energy efficiency for a wide range of applications that require high-speed and medium-to-high resolution data converters. Examples of such applications include communications infrastructure, an industry where SCALINX hopes to be a leading supplier, in addition to the European and French defense markets.
A New European Titan of ASICs?
SCALINX founder and CEO Hussein Fakhoury remarked that the investment marks an “important milestone” for the company as it seeks to become a key European supplier of high-speed data converters.
“With this first round of support, we see SCALINX driving European leadership and becoming a major player in the communications and defense industries in a market dominated by non-European companies,” said Yves Guiol of NCI, a French venture capital firm involved in the funding round.
