Intel Announces New Standalone FPGA Company Titled ‘Altera’: Here are All the Details

In a significant development within the technology sector, Intel has unveiled its latest venture, a standalone FPGA (field-programmable gate arrays) company named Altera, during the FPGA Vision Webcast.

Altera emerges as a new brand under Intel, positioned uniquely as the "only FPGA with AI built into the fabric." This strategic move signals Intel's ambition to secure a leadership role in the burgeoning FPGA market, valued at over $55 billion, by tapping into various verticals including cloud, network, and edge computing.

Intel's New Venture

The establishment of Altera is not just a step towards capturing market share but also a vision to revolutionize the integration and application of AI within the industry. By focusing on the Quartus Prime software and enhancing AI capabilities, Altera aims to facilitate the adoption and expansion of AI technologies in the application market.

Leveraging the momentum AI has gained across sectors, the company introduces its FPGA AI Suite and OpenVINO, designed to optimize intellectual property (IP) across standard frameworks such as TensorFlow and PyTorch. Furthermore, Altera's FPGAs offer customization options, allowing the integration of emerging standards including PCI Express, CXL, Ethernet, and 6G wireless, thereby catering to the evolving needs of the industry.

Expanding FPGA's Horizon

Sandra Rivera, the Chief Executive Officer of Altera, highlighted the opportunity to rejuvenate the FPGA market amidst growing technological complexities faced by customers.

Rivera stated, "As customers deal with increasingly complex technological challenges and work to differentiate themselves from their competitors and accelerate time to value, we have an opportunity to reinvigorate the FPGA market. We're leading with a bold, agile and customer-obsessed approach to deliver programmable solutions and accessible AI across a broad range of applications in the comms, cloud, data center, embedded, industrial, automotive and mil-aero market segments."

Altera's Portfolio

Moreover, Altera's portfolio is set to address the needs of the networking and communications segments specifically. The company announced the introduction of new products including Agilex 5, which is distinguished as the only FPGA with built-in AI capabilities.

Alongside, the Agilex 9 is designed for data converters catering to radar and military-aerospace applications, and the Agilex 7 F-series and I-series are poised to enhance networking capabilities. Additionally, Altera plans to launch Agilex 3, aimed at bringing low-power FPGA solutions to cloud, communications, and intelligent edge applications, further broadening its impact within the technology landscape.

Through Altera, Intel is not only expanding its footprint in the FPGA market but also reinforcing its commitment to driving innovation and growth in AI integration across various sectors. This strategic direction promises to offer programmable solutions and accessible AI, marking a pivotal moment in the evolution of FPGA technologies and their applications in the modern digital era.