Renesas Electronics Corporation (TSE:6723) has entered into a definitive agreement with Reality Analytics, Inc. (Reality AI) to acquire Reality AI in an all-cash transaction.
The acquisition transaction is unanimously approved by the boards of directors of both companies. The deal is expected to close by the end of calendar year 2022, subject to shareholders’ and required regulatory approval and other customary closing conditions.
The new addition to Renesas will significantly increase its endpoint AI capability, providing more flexibility and efficiency for system developers to make their products AIoT (Artificial Intelligence of Things) ready and get to market faster.
To address the increasing importance of embedding AI into products, Renesas has been offering development environments and software in collaboration with its partners. These allow AI to be embedded in its low-power, highly secure MCUs and MPUs. This new acquisition will muscle up Renesas to expand its in-house capability to provide comprehensive and highly optimized endpoint solutions both from the hardware as well as the software perspective. This enables system developers to realize endpoint intelligence across a wide range of IIoT, consumer and automotive applications.
Combining Reality AI’s embedded AI and Tiny Machine Learning (TInyML) solutions will allow Renesas’ broad range of MCU and MPU portfolios to help developers seamlessly apply advanced machine learning and signal processing to complex problems.
In addition to expanding embedded AI technologies, key IPs, software and tools, the acquisition will bring an AIoT center-of-excellence in Maryland by acquiring Reality AI’s experts. This move will extend Renesas’ global software development talent base and spearhead its commitment to address the needs of customers eager to utilize AI.
“The importance and demand of data at the endpoint is increasing at an unprecedented scale. The acquisition of AI technology is an important milestone to address our customers’ emerging requirements for endpoint intelligence,” said Hidetoshi Shibata, President and CEO of Renesas. “The addition of Reality AI’s AI solutions to our existing embedded AI portfolios will further solidify our position as a leading AIoT solution provider.”
“Customers are increasingly demanding highly customized solutions involving embedded machine learning, signal processing, high-capability processors, and assistance with hardware integration and solution development,” said Stuart Feffer, CEO of Reality AI. “Having collaborated with Renesas for some time now, we are looking forward to being able to provide customers with more complete solutions – especially in the areas of IIoT, consumer and automotive products where use of machine learning is growing rapidly.”
