The BrainChip Holdings Ltd (ASX: BRN) share price is on watch this morning as it comes out of a trading halt. The company's shares were previously suspended pending a market announcement.
After yesterday's market close, the artificial intelligence technology company provided two major announcements. The first in relation to an order for its Akida Early Access Evaluation Kit, and the second, a signing of an intellectual property license agreement.
The BrainChip share price closed at 32.5 cents, up 3.1% before being placed in a trading halt on Tuesday.
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NASA places an order
According to its release, BrainChip advised that the United States National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has placed an order for its Akida Early Access Evaluation Kit.
Under the early access program, NASA will use the Akida Early Access Evaluation Kit within its NASA shared service centre (NSSC) at the NASA/Ames research centre (ARC) in California.
The early access program is bestowed to a select group of customers that can have immediate access to the Akida device, evaluation boards and technical support. In exchange for inclusion to the program, BrainChip collects a payment that offsets expenses to provide ongoing support.
NASA will use the kit to examine how Akida technology using a neuromorphic processor will meet its stringent spaceflight requirements. Brainchip highlighted that the Akida neuromorphic processor is capable and fits within spaceflight and aerospace constraints.
The ground-breaking device simulates the functionality of the human neuron without the need for an external CPU, memory or deep learning accelerator. This is important as the reduction in parts requires less size and power, thus fulfilling the minimal component count requirement.
Licencing agreement
In other news, BrainChip also advised it signed an intellectual property license agreement with Renesas Electronics America Inc.
Renesas Electronics America Inc. is a subsidiary of parent company, Renesas Electronics Corp. The latter which is a global semiconductor manufacturer that specialises in microcontroller and automotive system-on-chip (SoC) products.
Under the unconditional agreement, BrainChip will deliver its Akida technology to Renesas Electronics America for use as a SoC licenced product. The deal will include a single-use design license, implementation support services (at an agreed cost), royalty payments per unit, and software maintenance services for 2-years.
The Akida SoC is a small, low cost and low power product that makes it ideal for cutting edge applications. These include advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS), autonomous vehicles, drones, vision-guided robotics, surveillance and machine vision systems.
What did the CEO say?
Commenting on the new order, BrainChip CEO Louis DiNardo said:
We are both excited and proud that NASA has procured Akida as part of our Early Access Program. The recognition that neuromorphic computing may play an important role in spaceflight applications is an important milestone for our industry.
We hope that the potential benefits from the Akida neuromorphic processor for use in spaceflight and aerospace applications may provide a valuable contribution to further NASA's primary mission to benefit humanity.
Mr DiNardo went on to speak about the licencing agreement:
This is an exciting and significant milestone in obtaining the Company's first IP licensing agreement. Furthermore, this is a market validation of our technology.
Licensing Akida IP also provides us with an opportunity for recurring revenue over the lifetime of our customer's SoC product. We are equipped to help additional customers integrate Akida technology into their products, which benefit from low power and real-time performance, as well as extend capabilities to provide AI solutions to IoT devices at the edge without the need for cloud connectivity.
About the BrainChip share price
The BrainChip share price fell from glory in September after reaching as high as 97 cents. Although at current prices, its shares are down 66% from its all-time high, the company is up 673% over the past 12 months.
BrainChip has a market capitalisation of $525.4 million at the time of writing.
