Newcomer clears first hurdle

 This blog has expressed trepidation regarding many of the 2009 FPGA startups, particularly those using unique, occasionally radical, memory concepts. But David Manners of Electronics Weekly pointed out Nov. 30 that SiliconBlue Technologies Corp. has hit an important milestone – volume shipments to "more than ten" customers.

While SiliconBlue’s FPGAs make a partial bow to tradition by being based on SRAM, they also integrate a unique nonvolatile configuration memory (NVCM) that can eliminate ROM/EPROM in many designs. Hence, the company is targeting low-power portable devices such as smartphones, digital cameras, and netbooks/smartbooks.

Again, should this nonvolatile concept prove viable, SiliconBlue faces the danger of a rapid opportunistic play by Xilinx or Altera into this space. Perhaps its patent portfolio will buy the young company some time. At any event, supplying devices to customers numbering in two figures is a significant milestone.