Why did the BrainChip (ASX:BRN) share price have such a stellar year in 2021?

What has been the driving force behind the BrainChip share price?

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Key Points

  • The BrainChip share price has been one of the best performers on the ASX
  • Positive developments has led to investors taking keen interest in the company
  • Valued currently at $3.65 billion

The BrainChip Holdings Ltd (ASX: BRN) share price surged over the course of 2021. Market confidence in the company's technology and interest in the artificial intelligence (AI) sectors led its shares to rally higher.

Since the beginning of 2021, the AI technology company's shares accelerated by almost 60%. In comparison, the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) gained roughly 13% over the same period.

While BrainChip shares closed at 68 cents on 31 December, since then its shares have zoomed to incredible highs.

At Wednesday's market close, the company's shares finished up 14.52% to $2.13 apiece. It's worth noting that early that day, its share price touched a record high of $2.34 before treading lower.

What's driving BrainChip shares higher?

With the world ushering towards an era of technology innovation across AI platforms, the BrainChip share price has been racing ahead.

In the past few months, the company announced a number of positive developments regarding its Akida chip technology. This steered the company's shares to strong gains in the latter part of 2021.

The party kicked off when the company struck a deal with Japanese semiconductor firm, MegaChips in November.

Under the deal, MegaChips will have access to BrainChip's intellectual property for developing next-generation edge-based AI solutions. This will see the use in designing and manufacturing the Akida technology into external customer's systems on chip designs.

More recently, BrainChip announced that Information Systems Laboratories is developing an AI-based radar research solution for the United States Air Force. The technology will employ BrainChip's Akida neural networking processor as a tool to incorporate into their portfolio of research engineering and engineering solutions.

And just yesterday, the company announced that it had secured a United States patent regarding its neuromorphic artificial intelligence chips.

The key features on the patent protect the company's neuromorphic processor. The function revolves around performing complex tasks on a digital input data, thus allowing AI to process images.

Clearly, investors have priced in a lot of good things to come for BrainChip, despite its sky-high valuation.

BrainChip share price snapshot

Over the last 12 months, BrainChip shares have gained more than 280%. The company's share price reached an all-time high of $2.34 yesterday, before treading lower due to profit-taking.

When looking at valuation grounds, BrainChip has a market capitalisation of around $3.65 billion, with around 1.71 billion shares outstanding.

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Motley Fool contributor Aaron Teboneras has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia's parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Bruce Jackson.

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