2025 Outlook with Christelle Faucon of Agile Analog

Tell us a little bit about yourself and your company. 

I was born in France, but I have been living in the Netherlands for two decades. I have worked in the global semiconductor industry for over 25 years. After my Master’s Degree in Electronics Engineering, I started my career as a Design Engineer. Since then I have held senior product and commercial positions, including 10 years at TSMC and 10 years as President of GUC (Global Unichip) Europe. Currently I am the VP of Sales at Agile Analog, the customizable analog IP company.

Agile Analog is revolutionizing the analog IP sector with our expanding portfolio of highly configurable, multi-process analog IP products. The company has developed a unique way to automatically generate analog IP that meet the customer’s exact specifications, for any foundry and on any process. We provide a wide-range of customizable analog IP solutions and subsystems, covering data conversion, power management, IC monitoring, security and always-on IP. Applications include; HPC (High Performance Computing), IoT, AI and security.

What was the most exciting high point of 2024 for your company? 

2024 was an extremely busy time at Agile Analog. Our main focus was on implementing and delivering customer projects. Throughout the year we saw a significant increase in demand for our novel analog IP and we ramped up the number of customer deliveries. There are tier 1 companies that we work with that unfortunately we can’t talk about due to confidentiality, but in March 2024 we were able to announce the completion of our first always-on IP subsystem for XMOS.

We have also strengthened relationships with the major foundries. Partnering with these foundries enables us to access advanced technology PDKs, so we can support customers across the globe who need solutions on advanced nodes. Agile Analog has been a member of the TSMC OIP IP Alliance Program and Intel Foundry IP Alliance Program since 2023. In July 2024 we announced that we had joined the GlobalFoundries GlobalSolutions Ecosystem and delivered our IP to customers on FinFet and FDX processes.

Other company highlights in 2024 included being on the EE Times Silicon 100 list for semiconductor startups worth watching and being selected as a WIRED Trailblazer.

What was the biggest challenge your company faced in 2024? 

2024 was another challenging year across the semiconductor sector, with the ongoing geopolitical turmoil and economic downturn leading to more uncertainty. The impact of this was felt across the entire industry, with many companies frustrated and restricted by reduced budgets. The automotive sector in Europe was particularly badly hit, although Agile Analog’s exposure to this market is small.

How is your company’s work addressing this biggest challenge? 

Agile Analog has continued to drive forward to accelerate the adoption of our unique analog IP. Despite the challenges, we are proud that Agile Analog has grown as a business, achieving our highest number of IP sales and bookings. We work closely with our foundry and industry partners across the globe, and we have seen a surge in demand, especially for our data conversion IP, power management IP and security IP. Our aim is that when chip designers are looking for customizable analog IP then Agile Analog is the company that comes to mind. Our reach is truly global, with increased levels of interest from customers in North America and Asia. In October we announced a collaboration to support the work of the Southern Taiwan IC Design Industry Promotion Center.

What conferences did you attend in 2024 and how was the traffic?

Over the last 12 months the Agile Analog team has taken part in more global semiconductor foundry events than ever before – including the TSMC Technology Symposiums, TSMC OIP Ecosystem Forums, GlobalFoundries Technology Summits, Samsung Foundry Forums and Intel Connect. The audience and flow of traffic at these events have been encouraging. We have enjoyed showcasing our extending range of analog IP solutions, as well as talking with customers and partners about market trends and challenges. These discussions are invaluable as they form part of the decision-making process as we develop our product roadmap.

The Global Semiconductor Alliance (GSA) events have also been very interesting, including those focused on the Women’s Leadership Initiative (WLI). In March I attended the first GSA WLI EMEA event – Women in Semiconductors Conference – at the GSA International Semiconductor Conference in London. Then in October there was the first GSA WLI EMEA lunch and learn event in Munich. It’s great to see such a strong community that supports the career development of women working in the semiconductor industry.

What do you think the industry’s biggest growth areas will be in 2025?

Despite the fact that there are obviously ongoing global challenges, there are still reasons for cautious optimism in the semiconductor industry. AI and data centers have been key areas of interest in 2024, and we expect that these will continue to be the main growth areas in 2025. Indeed, the potential of generative AI has been a recurring talking point and its future impact on the world looks set to be game-changing.

Will you attend conferences in 2025?

In 2025, we will further strengthen our foundry relationships by participating in more of the foundry events. We may also review sector related events such as those focused on AI/Big data.  We really enjoy meeting existing and potential customers and partners face-to-face, so events are important for us.

What will be the main product focus areas for your company in 2025? 

At Agile Analog, our key product related priorities in 2025 will be working on advanced nodes and our security IP. Until now we have not been able to focus enough attention on developing our technology on advanced nodes. In 2025, we are keen to change this. We have exciting plans to collaborate with major foundries, such as TSMC and Samsung Foundry. There is also growing demand for our security IP solutions, especially for anti-tamper applications, so this range of our products will be at the forefront in 2025. As always at Agile Analog, meeting the needs of our customers comes first. We will continue to listen to and support our customers, and share our extensive expertise and experience in order to ensure that we can deliver the very best solutions possible.

Also Read:

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International Women’s Day with Christelle Faucon VP Sales Agile Analog