Samsung Foundry teams with SEMIFIVE

FotoNation and SEMIFIVE disclosed the underlying deal on May 11, not as a direct Samsung Foundry press release, but as a joint announcement saying SEMIFIVE would lead turnkey development of FotoNation’s TriSilica perceptual AI chip family using Samsung Foundry. The arrangement centers on edge AI silicon rather than a broad foundry alliance, according to SEMIFIVE’s newsroom posting and the PR Newswire release. The companies said TriSilica is an ultra-low-power perceptual AI chip family aimed at devices that “perceive, adapt, and act.” ### So what was actually announced? May 11 was the date FotoNation and SEMIFIVE announced a “strategic collaboration agreement” under which SEMIFIVE will handle turnkey development for TriSilica. In semiconductor terms, turnkey development usually means one company manages the path from design work through implementation and manufacturing coordination, rather than simply licensing IP or providing a single block. (semifive.com) Samsung Foundry appears in the announcement as the manufacturing platform for the program. The release says the target process for the initial product is Samsung Foundry’s 8nm Low Power Ultimate, or 8LPU, node. (semifive.com) ### Where does Samsung Foundry fit if Samsung was not the named announcing party? SEMIFIVE described itself as a “leading SAFE DSP partner” of Samsung Foundry and said it provides a one-stop-shop solution for system-on-chip design needs through that ecosystem. Samsung’s SAFE program is its foundry ecosystem for design and manufacturing partners, which helps explain why Samsung is part of the manufacturing path even though the public announcement came from FotoNation and SEMIFIVE. (prnewswire.com) Samsung has separately said its foundry strategy is built around technology, operations and service for external customers. In its foundry materials, Samsung has highlighted support for customers building AI and mobile chips and emphasized ecosystem support for faster time to market. ### What is TriSilica supposed to do? (prnewswire.com) FotoNation said TriSilica is its ultra-low-power perceptual AI chip family for edge AI applications. The release also says the architecture adds high-capacity bonded memory and is intended for sensor-fusion and image-processing workloads in devices operating at the edge rather than in data centers. (images.samsung.com) Petronel Bigioi, FotoNation’s chief executive, said SEMIFIVE’s custom semiconductor capabilities would be “a core driver” for commercializing FotoNation’s next-generation low-power sensor-fusion SoCs. That quote is one of the clearest indicators that the project is aimed at moving from architecture to production silicon, rather than remaining a concept or research effort. (semifive.com) ### Why does SEMIFIVE matter in this chain? SEMIFIVE has been positioning itself as a custom AI ASIC provider that can bridge customers to manufacturing. Its newsroom shows additional 2026 projects tied to Samsung processes, including an 8nm edge AI SoC tape-out announced on May 7 and a March contract for an AI NPU on Samsung’s 4nm SF4X process. Those earlier announcements do not change the TriSilica facts, but they do show SEMIFIVE already working as a design-to-foundry intermediary on Samsung nodes. (prnewswire.com) That provides context for why FotoNation used SEMIFIVE for this program. ### What happens next, and when? The clearest next milestone is the first product. The May 11 release says the initial TriSilica chip, called TS-210, is planned for a Multi-Project Wafer shuttle at the end of 2026. (semifive.com) The target manufacturing process for that shuttle is Samsung Foundry’s 8LPU node, with FotoNation, SEMIFIVE and Samsung Foundry all named in the development path. (prnewswire.com)