The Sondrel Ecosystem

We have a strong ecosystem built on long standing relationships with industry leaders including foundries, test houses, OSATs, packagers and IP vendors to ensure we can select the right partners for your project. This is particularly important when it comes to choosing the IP for your chip as, being IP agnostic, we can use the best IP to meet the requirements of the chip.

Sondrel for the Five Star Service

We’re different because we are dedicated to making your project a success with our pioneering Five Star Service. This means that you will receive exemplary care and attention from our team of highly experienced experts at every stage of your chip project from architectural specification through design to final shipping silicon. It is a complete, comprehensive, custom chip creation service that we only offer to a select number of companies who want a partnership that they can rely on. 

We are big enough to handle your project as our team of engineers have thousands of years of cumulative design skills from hundreds of successful projects at leading edge nodes right down to 3nm so you can be confident that your project will be in safe hands.  

And we are small enough to be able to focus and really care about you and the success of your project. That is the benefit of our Five Star Service that sets us apart from our competition.

As a result, we have delivered hundreds of successful projects on time and on budget that means that customers return to us for project after project.

Specialists in Design & Supply of Ultra-Complex Custom Chips

Tomorrow’s chips need billions of transistors to run state-of-the-art software. This means that the layout of the many different processors, memory, I/O, IP blocks and other features is incredibly complex hence the term ultra-complex and that has always been our speciality.

We are one of the very few companies in the world with the focus, expertise and experience to create the ultra-complex custom chips needed to run your software for tomorrow's innovative devices thanks to our innovative Architecting the Future design platform that reduces risk and accelerates design and time to market.

Plus, our award winning, in-house processes and flows combined with our specialist in-house IP, which have been perfected over more than 20 years, enables each project to run smoothly from design right through to tape out with a consistent, incredibly high attention to detail and quality according to agreed specifications.

So, you can rely on us for a world class, comprehensive Design & Supply service. We are your single point of contact, one-stop-shop for the whole process from the defining the chip through design, manufacture, and testing to shipping the final chips.

That is why we are the partner of choice for many of the world’s leading technology companies to time and again realise their innovations in silicon.

Architecting the Future

Our Design Service starts with a detailed Architectural Specification that precisely defines the requirements of the chip, its Power, Performance and Area, its target price, which node to use and even what packaging will be needed.

Our designers then use our Architecting the Future Design Platform that has a portfolio of scalable and extendable reference architectures -- two of which are automotive specific and designed for ISO 26262 and FuSa compliance – and select the most appropriate one as a starting point for your design. Using a pre-defined architecture as a starting point is much faster than starting from scratch and it is designed so that customer and third-party IP can be rapidly incorporated into it.

Each architecture includes microprocessors, digital signal processors and neural processor AI sub-systems that can be scaled up or down or changed to meet the needs of any application. Architecting the Future is a complete ecosystem of in-house tools, IP and design protocols that provides a quick start and reduces risk to accelerate time to market and time to revenue.

Advanced Modelling Process for optimised chips

Our special Advanced Modelling Process is part of our suite of in-house tools and flows and enables us to analyse exactly what is going on inside a chip design to ensure that the data flow is balanced properly and that the processors are not stalled waiting for data. It runs through every stage of the chip design to ‘prove’ that the design meets its specification and performance requirements. 

Next generation chips are extremely complex to design due to the huge amounts of data that have to flow within them and the heterogeneous processors (CPUs, NPUs, GPUs, DSPs), IP blocks, I/O and memory each with different data traffic requirements. Our Advanced Modelling Process enables Sondrel to analyse and balance the dataflows through the chip, while executing the software workloads on the chip.

To achieve this, Sondrel uses accurate, cycle-based, system performance modelling early in the design cycle and in advance of RTL development. This enables Sondrel to check that the design will meet its specification. The Process continually evolves as RTL is developed and continues when silicon becomes available. This validates that the design performs as specified using test cases that were created and used for performance verification. Moreover, using the Architecting the Future platform ensures an accelerated, reliable, predictable path to market by reusing pre-verified design elements. This constrains the solution space while ensuring high confidence in the integration of these elements.

Markets where we excel

Over the years, we have successfully delivered a very wide range of designs and chips. In addition, there are key areas where we have acquired extra skills to create leading edge solutions for customers which includes AI, Automotive, Video Processing, IoT and HPC.

For example, how to handle the massive amounts of data that needs moving around a NoC, meeting automotive standards, Functional Safety (FuSa), NoC design for billion transistor chips, designing at 3nm, selecting the right packaging, optimising the Power, Performance and Area (PPA), correctly booting up heterogeneous chips in the right sequence, chip security against hacking, and how to process massive video files to name but a few.

You tell us how you want data to flow and be processed for your application and we will create the perfect chip to exactly do that. No compromise. No unnecessary silicon. The Right PPA. You have a custom chip that has been made just for you that no-one else can copy or use so your valuable IP and USPs are fully protected.

We are one of the leading experts in designing with Arm cores

Sondrel has been an Arm® Approved Design Partner for many years and is one of the founding members of the Arm Total Design ecosystem so we have huge experience at getting the best from Arm cores.

In fact, we use Arm cores at the heart of our Architecting the Future Design Platform of predefined architectures. These are suitable for AI, HPC, Automotive, IoT and Video Processing to name but a few application areas as they are scalable and extendable so we can create a custom chip for you with a Power, Performance and Area that is optimised for your application.

These provide us with tried and tested reference designs to select from for each new project that we can rapidly customise to create the optimised chip solution for a customer. This reduces risk and provides a rapid time to market.

So, if you have a new Arm-based project and need a partner with in-depth Arm knowledge to design your next chip, please contact us. We can also take the design all the way through to final silicon as a comprehensive Design & Supply service. 

TSMC Design Centre Alliance Partner

Sondrel has been a long-term partner in TSMC’s Design Center Alliance (DCA), which focuses on chip implementation services and system level design solutions enablement to lower the design barrier for customers adopting TSMC technology.

We offer an extensive range of front-end services, back-end services and other design services for both the European and American regions.

Samsung Design Solution Partner 

We are a long-term member of the Samsung Design Solution Partner Alliance and one of only two based in Europe. DSP, Design Solution Partners, provide comprehensive ASIC design service and supply chain management with Samsung Foundry. DSP members have various design track records and expertise of Samsung Foundry's process offerings. DSP and Samsung Foundry collaboration provides easy access, fast business proposal, experienced design service and foundry/OSAT operation.

Skilled at RISC-V 

Sondrel always keeps its finger on the pulse of technology trends and so we are now providing designs based on RISC-V cores. Again, being IP agnostic, we select the best RISC-V core from the leading RISC-V vendors for your project.

Leaders in AI chip design

Next generation AI chips require state-of-the-art expertise to manage the complex data flows on these billion transistor chips. We understand exactly how to do this thanks to our Architecting the Future Design Platform, advanced modelling tools and huge experience of designing at the leading edge nodes.

How can we help you?

Full Design and Supply Service

We can handle every aspect of your NPI from specification through ASIC manufacturing to shipped, tested ASICs as a full turnkey service to enable you to focus on your unique skills.

Or you can engage with us at any stage

SoC Design Service starts with the Architectural Specification to define the chip, its required functionality and the target Power, Performance and Area.

ASIC Turnkey Manufacturing is a complete design and supply service to turn your chip concept into silicon. 

Supply Chain Management can professionally manage every step of your supply chain for you.

Team Augmentation

Is your project in need of some skilled engineers to meet a deadline or to add capability? We can help. As Europe’s biggest and most experienced, advanced digital ASIC/SoC Design & Supply company, we have a team of highly skilled engineers working on many different and diverse projects for customers. 

Whatever stage of the design process you are at, we can help you meet your milestone with a team of skilled engineers with many years of experience. As they are used to working in a team, they will hit the ground running, fit right in and make a positive contribution from day one. 

Our Outsourced Design Teams are formed according to your needs to effectively support successful delivery of your project. Just let us know how many, how long and what disciplines you need.