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Programmable chips (FPGAs) 1 company

An FPGA is a chip whose circuits can be set up again after the chip is made. Equipment makers use FPGAs when a design may still change, or when a job must be done faster than ordinary software can do it. In mobile networks, timing also matters: towers must stay in step with each other to within about a millionth of a second.

Lattice Semiconductor logoLattice SemiconductorLattice Semiconductor makes small, low-power FPGAs. They are used in communications and networking equipment, in industrial machines and in cars. For networks, it sells an FPGA that speeds up Open RAN equipment, and designs for precise timing. Its engineering centre is in Pune.Pune
The tech, explainedFPGAs and precision timing
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Chips for 5G base stations 1 company

A base station is the equipment at a mobile tower that sends and receives the radio signal and processes it. This processing usually needs several chips or special hardware. These chips do the work with fewer parts, so base stations become cheaper and smaller.

EdgeQ Inc. logoEdgeQ Inc.EdgeQ is a start-up that puts all of a 5G base station's processing onto one programmable chip. It also has a version for small cells: the small, low-power base stations used indoors or in busy streets. A large share of its engineering is done in Bengaluru.
The tech, explained5G baseband chipsSmall cellsPrivate 5G
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Hardware security chips 1 company

When network equipment is switched on, it first runs its firmware: the basic software stored on the equipment itself. If an attacker has changed the firmware, the operating system that starts after it cannot easily detect the change. A security chip checks that the firmware is exactly what it should be, before anything else starts.

Axiado Corp. logoAxiado Corp.Axiado makes a hardware security chip for data-centre servers and network equipment. Most security products protect equipment with software; Axiado does it with a chip. It has engineers in Bengaluru.
The tech, explainedHardware root of trustFirmware
How it all worksTelecom networksFrom your phone to the tower, core and internet.
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What's changing

Open RAN needs new kinds of chips.

In Open RAN, the software that runs a tower comes from a different company than the tower's hardware, and it runs on ordinary servers. Ordinary server chips are not fast enough for all of a base station's radio processing, so extra chips are added next to them. EdgeQ's base-station chip and Lattice's FPGA for Open RAN equipment are both built for this job.

Read more5G baseband chipsFPGAs and precision timing
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