Cyclos Semiconductor

Cyclos is a privately-held start-up company commercializing next-generation ultra-low power design technologies. Silicon-proven on high-end ASIC designs, Cyclos technology provides unprecedented power efficiency at max-performance clock speeds. It is available to customers via general-purpose libraries, ultra-low-power IP cores, and customer-specific-design services. Compatible with standard design flows, Cyclos technology allows customers to deliver class-leading devices to power-critical markets such as mobile, wireless, medical and general-purpose computing. [Cyclos Semiconductor Website, Press Release]

Jun 5, 2008

Power-Saving Processors: Novel Chip Design Lets Processors Recycle Power

With funding from Siemens’ Berkeley, California-based Technology to Business Center, Prof. Marios Papaefthymiou and Dr. Alexander Ishii have founded Cyclos Semiconductor, Inc. The startup will exploit a novel chip design technology from Papaefthymiou’s research lab at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. Applicable to everything from cell phones to servers, the technology promises to slash power demand and associated heat in processors by 30% to 75%. These savings are achieved by recovering power from the processor’s clock and logic circuitry.

The core concept behind the inventors’ work is that power can be recycled. Their patented design technology can be applied to any chip, allowing chips to function like hybrid cars that return power to the battery every time the driver steps on the brakes. (PN 2008.13)

@ Siemens AG