Don’t you love it that we don’t tangle ourselves into wires anymore? Whether you use your laptop or phone - no more wires!

And for this, we can thank the network-on-chip (NoC) technology. Basically, a dozen years ago engineers found a problem when improving the performance of the processors. Namely, the problems revolved around the limitations of the materials in the wires and the speed of the processor.

This is why they started thinking of new ways to boost up the processor unit. After a long period of development, NoC came to life.

Thanks to 3 engineers - Alain Fanet, Alain Finet, and Philippe Boucard, the tech world took a huge step forward. Founding Arteris IP, they started providing NoC and IP deployment technology for a broad spectrum of applications - automobiles, smartphones, cameras, etc.

In this tale, we will dive into the world of one of the biggest tech companies that did a boom with the NoC technology!

The Beginnings

As a very ambitious and lively child, Alain Fanet had always had an interest in engineering and that was the reason for his vast educational background. Studying hard and diligently, he managed to get a Ph.D. in computer science from one of the leading schools in ICT in France - Télécom Paris.

Possessing such knowledge, Alain started slowly building his way up to the idea of forming Arteris IP. All of Alain’s ideas piled up and formed the outline of a start-up company that he founded - T.sqware. That’s where Alain met his namesake Alain Finet and Philippe Boucard.

Alain Finet was also a passionate engineer, eager to devise a product that would bring the world forward in its development. His devotion to his work earned him a place in T.sqware and his sharp thinking helped set the basis for Arteris.

Getting his education from Télécom Paris, Philippe Boucard had gone through blood, sweat, and tears and acquired his Master’s degree. Having a knack for hardware development, Philippe started his professional journey at Matra Harris Semiconductors.

When they founded Arteris IP, he took on the role of Senior Director for IP Development and is still heavy at work in bringing new NoC ideas.

Living the Tech Life

Working in the same field, the founders met at T.sqware - a startup that developed chipsets and processors for networks. Gaining the idea to address the problems with the wires and the speed of the processors, these three musketeers decided on tackling the problem by establishing their own firm in California.

Alain Fanet had led many projects and risen to the top roles in a few companies prior to the CEO title at Arteris IP. His top skills always resulted in him gaining a leading position where he was able to provide everyone under him with support and help. Even founding other companies, Alain’s goal was aimed towards recreating the world of processors.

Philippe’s resume is enriched with similar high positions, making him a titan in his area of expertise. When T.sqware was acquired by Globespan in 2000, Philippe didn’t lose hope and jumped on the opportunity to continue his hard work with two of his colleagues.

In their previous ventures, Philippe and the two Alains all worked in companies that enriched their educational knowledge with a lot of practical work. This gave the possibility to, later on, have an easy flow within Arteris IP.

All There Is to Arteris IP

In 2003, these three engineers decided that it was time for the world to move on with the NoC technology. This is why the three entrepreneurs established Arteris IP. The idea behind Arteris IP is to build something different from what is offered on the market.

Namely, the company is based on the wisdom of networking experts. Together, Philippe and the two Alains started building a brand that would power the next wave of 5G, AI systems, and even autonomous driving. Everything that you thought was far away in the future, they decided to make it happen now!

Amidst its rise, Alain Fanet decided that it was smarter to focus on the role of Chief Technology Officer and stepped down from his role as CEO, offering it to K. Charles Janac. Nonetheless, Alain continued to guide the company’s strategy and expansion.

2006 was the year when Arteris launched its first IP product - NoCSolution, which landed them $1 million worth of licenses. And then came the time for a big decision for the founders. There is one place in the world where technology blossoms - Silicon Valley. Thus the entrepreneurs resolved their minds - they packed their things and moved to the playground where the big kids played.

Step by step, these 3 tech geniuses managed to further enhance their company and even brought forth a second-generation product - FlexNoC. Finally, in 201,1 Arteris started to see a significant rise in profits. However - some might say it was a mishap - in 2013 Qualcomm acquired FlexNoC’s product portfolio.

Despite what happened, Qualcomm has no ownership of the company and Arteris kept its customers and licenses to continue upgrading its products.

On the other hand, Arteris did some acquiring itself, and in 2020 got its hands on Magillem Design Services. This gave the company the option to add a suite of IP-XACT-based products which helped automate the production.

Chipping Away

Arteris started on a venture capital that reached around $44 million from a few funding rounds. This capital included some big name investors like Crescendo Ventures, Qualcomm, Synopsys, and others.

Gradually, they started getting more and more customers, and by 2016, Arteris garnered around 40 semiconductor customers including Samsung, Toshiba, LG Electronics, etc. This meant their capital was also growing.

With 6 funding rounds, the company managed to reach a total of $52 million with the last one being in June 2021, adding an amount of $5.4 million to the funds. Arteris currently has 8 investors, with Qualcomm and Synopsys as the leading ones.

In recent times, Arteris decided to go public and announced its pricing for the IPO. The Nasdaq Global Market was a perfect choice, so with 5 million shares and $14 per share, the three entrepreneurs dived into it.

The most interesting part was that Arteris decided to give its sponsors an option wherein 30-days they could purchase up to 750,000 additional shares of its stock at the IPO price.

Up, Up and Above!

Still based in Silicon Valley and with around 100 employees, Arteris has grabbed every tech junky’s eye. It possesses a long list of licenses to prove its effectiveness - ranging from creating electronics for electric vehicles to signing big names like Samsung - and an even longer list with awards for its NoC.

The founders believed in this company and nowadays, some of the leading smartphone giants use Arteris’ interconnect technology. Currently working on advancing their products and providing even more futuristic opportunities to come true, Arteris is rapidly growing.

Before achieving greatness, Arteris IP had to fight off some competition coming from companies in the range of Symmetry Electronics, Roos Instruments, and Graphcore, among others.

Philippe and the two Alains have constantly been holding conferences where they can provide more knowledge to the public about their products. These events are not only stationed in the USA but have moved around the globe, too, in China, Israel, and some are even done virtually.

For the future, Arteris has many things hidden and waiting to be unraveled to the world. Even though this company has risen to the top, it is ready to break that line and go even further. And the good thing is, they will be taking us with them!

Whether electric cars or a new version of your current smartphone, Arteris will be by our side. We might not see it, but it will always be there giving stability and opening the doors to a future you thought was never possible!