ACI for FPGA Casting

Hardware innovation at software speed for Physical AI

Physical AI needs custom, low-latency edge silicon tuned to specific sensor and actuation workloads. ACI lowers the technical and financial barriers, taking designs from idea to working FPGA implementation — so developers can focus on their application, from 5G to autonomous systems to industrial IoT, without FPGA’s steep learning curve.

System architects, bring-up engineers, software engineers — and more. Bridge the gap from RTL to a running system.

The Challenge

Bridging the Physical AI Gap

Physical AI collapses the gap between sensing and acting, putting a brutal set of demands on the silicon underneath. The chip must run custom logic tuned to a specific workload, deliver low-latency inference fast enough to close a real-time control loop, and do it inside an ultra-low-power envelope. Meeting all of that at once demands workload-specific architecture and deep silicon expertise — which is exactly what makes purpose-built edge silicon so hard to create, and so valuable once it exists.

“Physical AI requires silicon that can evolve with changing application needs, and Altera FPGAs provide the flexibility of a reconfigurable architecture. Cognichip’s novel approach with AI-native design highlights the potential to help developers bring physical AI concepts to Altera’s programmable platforms more efficiently.”

— The team from Altera

From Idea to Bits

Cognichip ACI takes you straight from a whiteboard to a complete, working FPGA design. This is “software speed” made literal: the design loop that used to take teams of specialists quarters now runs in a fraction of the time, because ACI does the workload-specific architecture and the FPGA implementation for you.

Glass-to-Glass

16 ms

photon → photon

Camera in, display out

Frame Rate

120 fps

sustained 4K

No dropped frames

Frame Jitter

±0.3 ms

steady cadence

Certifiable, no stutter

Power Envelope

12 W

fanless · vs 300 W

Battery & thermal ready

The path from idea to running FPGA

Whiteboard ideation session sketching an FPGA design concept

Design Ideation

To match your team’s skill level — start from a block diagram, a whiteboard drawing, or design by conversation with ACI to get your idea off the ground.

Structured engineering specification derived by ACI

Engineering Specs

ACI will derive, analyze, enrich, and finalize your engineering specs, keeping you informed and ensuring no contradictions or uncertainties.

FPGA-targeted RTL implementation with integrated IP

Detailed Implementation

Ready to go? Ask ACI to start building your design with your target FPGA in mind. Create FPGA target-optimized RTL and integrate IPs into your system.

Verification team reviewing ACI-generated testbenches

Verification

ACI leverages the full gamut of capabilities built into its physics-informed core. It will formally verify requirements, build testbenches, and fix any corner cases.

FPGA bitstream generation and place-and-route optimization

FPGA Bitstreams

Once the design is converged, ACI will drive available tooling to get bitstreams generated and even perform optimizations for optimal fit and speed.

In-silicon bring-up on a running FPGA board

In-Silicon Testing & Bring-up

Use ACI to configure your FPGA and bring up your application. Generate and run sanity tests and test workloads, insert signal taps, experience and iterate.

See it in action

From a whiteboard sketch to running silicon

Hassan hands ACI a glass-to-glass idea; it matches an FPGA board, finalizes the spec, generates and closes the design, and brings up live vehicle detection on real hardware — then drops in new models on request.

Cast to FPGA
Hassan working with Cognichip

Capabilities in detail

End-to-End FPGA Prototyping

Generate complete FPGA prototyping workflows from your RTL design. ACI handles partitioning for multi-FPGA systems, constraint generation, and clock domain management.

  • Automatic design partitioning for multi-FPGA configurations
  • Clock domain crossing management
  • I/O pin assignment and constraint generation
  • Bitstream generation and programming
Powered by ACI

Artificial Chip Intelligence ACI™ collapses months of engineering iteration into hours through its physics-informed foundation model, delivering optimized designs that meet power, performance, and area targets on the first pass.

Accelerate your path to hardware

Get from RTL to a running system in days, not months.

Backed by $93M from Seligman, SBI, Mayfield, Lux Capital, and Candou Ventures