What Syntiant does

Syntiant Corp. is a deep-learning semiconductor company founded in 2017 and headquartered in Irvine, California, that designs and sells a full-stack Physical AI platform for always-on, ultra-low-power on-device inference. The platform combines purpose-built at-memory Neural Decision Processors (NDP100, NDP101, NDP115, NDP120, NDP200, and the third-generation NDP250 built on Syntiant Core 3) with high-performance SiSonic MEMS microphones, V2S vibration sensors, AISonic smart microphones, the AISonic IA8201 audio edge processor, and hardware-agnostic ML models and toolchains. The NDP architecture processes neural network layers directly in memory without compilers, delivering up to 100x greater efficiency and 10/30x higher throughput than low-power MCUs while consuming as little as 280 µW for speech inference. The platform is ISO 9001:2015 certified, includes AEC-Q103-003 qualified automotive-grade MEMS microphones, and an AEC-Q100 Grade 3 qualified NDP120 automotive SKU.

Syntiant's products are deployed across seven primary customer segments: personal devices (earbuds, smart eyewear, wearables, hearables, smart remotes), automotive (in-cabin voice, driver monitoring, dash cameras, BMS), smart home, healthcare, robotics (industrial, service, humanoid), industrial/commercial, and government/defense. Named commercial integration partners include Arduino (Nicla Voice), Avnet/Renesas (RASynBoard), Murata (Type2DA module), Qualcomm (QCC5100 + NDP100), Telink (voice remote reference design), PixArt (ultra-low-power image sensors), onsemi (Hyperlux + V2S200DZA), Eoxys (XENO+ ML SOM), Edge Impulse (TinyML dev board), Trident IoT, and Positioning Universal (PUI TM94 telematics). Federal partners include In-Q-Tel and the Department of War's Defense Innovation Unit, and the company is a co-founding member of the EDGE AI FOUNDATION Defense Working Group.

Syntiant generates revenue primarily through hardware sales of its NDP silicon, MEMS microphones, vibration sensors, and AISonic processors, complemented by licensing of its hardware-agnostic ML models and SDKs, revenue from co-developed reference design programs with OEMs, and government/defense solutions revenue. Pricing is quote-based and not publicly disclosed; sales run through a hybrid go-to-market combining direct regional sales offices (US, China, Japan, Taiwan, Korea), a global distributor network (DigiKey, Mouser, Avnet, Seltech, EDOM, Excelpoint), and US sales representatives covering Northeast, Mid-Atlantic/South, Midwest, and West regions. Cumulative chip shipments exceeded 100 million NDPs and 20 billion MEMS microphones by 2026. The company is privately held, backed by strategic and financial investors including Intel Capital, Microsoft M12, Applied Ventures, Robert Bosch Venture Capital, Amazon Alexa Fund, Renesas Electronics, Atlantic Bridge Capital, Millennium Technology Value Partners, Mirae Asset Capital, and Malaysia's Khazanah Nasional, with cumulative funding raised exceeding $170M since founding.

Name

Syntiant

Legal name

Syntiant Corp.

Website

https://syntiant.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2017

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1,001–5,000 employees

Short description

Syntiant Corp. is a deep-learning semiconductor company that designs ultra-low-power Neural Decision Processors, MEMS microphones, vibration sensors, and hardware-agnostic ML models for always-on edge AI in personal devices, automotive, smart home, healthcare, robotics, industrial, and defense applications.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Edge AI Semiconductors

NAICS

Navigational, Measuring, Electromedical, and Control Instruments Manufacturing (3345), Other Measuring and Controlling Device Manufacturing (334519), Search, Detection, Navigation, Guidance, Aeronautical, and Nautical System and Instrument Manufacturing (334511)

akta.pro primary industry

AI Accelerators (GPUs/TPUs/NPUs/ASICs) (HDAAAAAA)

akta.pro secondary industries

AI Compiler, Runtime & Kernel Optimization Software (CUDA/ROCm/XLA, graph compilers) (HDAAAAAI), Edge AI Hardware & NPUs (SoCs, modules, accelerators) (HDAAAJAC), On-Device Inference Runtimes & SDKs (mobile/embedded) (HDAAAJAB), On-Device/Edge Foundation Models (Mobile/Embedded LLMs) (HDAAACAN)

Keywords

• Edge AI processors
• Neural decision processors
• MEMS microphones
• Ultra-low-power inference
• AI accelerator chips

Headquarters

HQ city

Irvine

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices12 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Hardware or Manufacturing

Cost components

Technology or R&D, Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Supply Chain

Revenue model

1. Hardware Sales — Neural Decision Processors: Sale of NDP silicon (NDP100, NDP101, NDP115, NDP120, NDP200, NDP250) and AISonic audio edge processors to OEMs and module makers for integration into commercial products.
2. Hardware Sales — MEMS Microphones and V2S Vibration Sensors: Unit sales of SiSonic MEMS microphones (consumer and AEC-Q103-003 automotive-grade) and V2S200D/DZA vibration sensors via direct sales and a global distributor network (DigiKey, Mouser, Avnet, Seltech, etc.).
3. Software and ML Model Licensing: Licensing of hardware-agnostic deep learning models, SDKs, and training toolchains for vision, speech, audio, and sensor applications, plus deployment toolchains for edge hardware.
4. Reference Design and Co-Development Programs: Revenue from OEM/partner reference designs (e.g., RASynBoard with Avnet/Renesas, Nicla Voice with Arduino, XENO+ ML SOM with Eoxys) that bundle Syntiant NDPs with partner silicon and connectivity modules.
5. Government and Defense Solutions: Selling integrated AI models, hardware, and sensors to defense, intelligence, and public-sector customers with custom secure model training for sensitive missions.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion6 records

Distribution channels5 records

Marketing channels10 records

Core offering

Syntiant designs and sells a full-stack physical AI platform combining purpose-built Neural Decision Processors (NDPs) (NDP115, NDP120, NDP200, NDP250), high-performance SiSonic MEMS microphones, V2S vibration sensors, and hardware-agnostic deep learning models. The platform enables ultra-low-power, always-on on-device AI inference across speech, audio, sensor, and vision workloads without cloud dependency. Customers are primarily OEMs and module makers across consumer electronics, automotive, smart home, healthcare, robotics, industrial, and government/defense markets.

Product overview

Syntiant's offering is a full-stack Physical AI platform (not a single product) that combines purpose-built Neural Decision Processors (NDP115, NDP120, NDP200, NDP250), high-performance MEMS microphones (SiSonic Consumer MEMS, Automotive Grade SiSonic), vibration sensors (V2S200D, V2S200DZ, V2S200DZA), AISonic smart microphones, and the AISonic IA8201 audio edge processor with hardware-agnostic machine learning models and a Runtime Edge AI Inference Engine. The platform spans speech, audio, sensor and vision processing for personal devices, smart home, healthcare, automotive, robotics, industrial/commercial, and government applications. It is extended by acquired technologies - Knowles' Consumer MEMS Microphones division (closed Dec 2024), Orosound's Open-Ear ANC and Face-to-Face Conversation AI, and AudioSourceRE's DeMIX sound separation platform - and is delivered to developers through reference designs (Smart Frame for eyewear), partner platforms (RASynBoard with Renesas/Avnet, Nicla Voice with Arduino, XENO+ ML SOM with Eoxys), and Evaluation Kits (with Raspberry Pi).

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• SiSonic™: Consumer MEMS microphone product family (over 20 billion units shipped), including automotive-grade AEC-Q103-003 qualified microphones.
• AISonic™
• NDP (Neural Decision Processor)
• V2S
• Smart Frame

Products and services

• Syntiant Physical AI Platform

Quantifiable outcome

• 100x greater energy efficiency than traditional microcontrollers (NDP family)
• +8 more outcomes

Named customers15 records

Segments9 records

Ideal customer profiles5 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration16 records

AI capability13 records

Feature10 records

Partnerships

30 partnerships are on record, tiered flagship, core and minor.

• ArduinoflagshipStrategic or Co-development PartnerArduino integrates the Syntiant NDP120 into its Nicla Voice TinyML development board, allowing developers to easily implement always-on speech recognition at the edge.
• AvnetflagshipStrategic or Co-development PartnerAvnet and Renesas co-developed the RASynBoard with Syntiant's NDP120 and Renesas RA6M4 host MCU plus DA16600 Wi-Fi/BT module for embedded sensor applications.
• Renesas ElectronicsflagshipStrategic or Co-development PartnerRenesas RZ/V vision AI MPU integrated with Syntiant NDP120 for always-on voice-triggered object/facial recognition in security cameras; investors in 2022 funding round.
• BoschflagshipTechnology or IntegrationElliptic Labs and Syntiant brought always-on ultra-low-power experiences to Bosch's Spexor multi-purpose sensor device using Bosch's IMU sensors and Syntiant NDPs.
• QualcommflagshipTechnology or IntegrationSyntiant joined the Qualcomm Extension Program; manufacturers can combine the NDP100 with Qualcomm QCC5100 Bluetooth SoCs for enhanced touch-free functionality with multiple wake words and cloud-free commands.
• TelinkcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerSyntiant and Telink unveiled a voice interface reference design for smart remotes, enabling ultra-low-power WiFi and BLE connectivity for some of the world's largest smart remote control manufacturers.
• MuratacoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerMurata integrates Syntiant's NDP102 processor with wireless modules and sensors for low-power IoT edge AI audio and sensor applications, including the Type2DA module showcased at CES 2023.
• PixArtcoreTechnology or IntegrationSyntiant's NDP200 paired with PixArt's ultra-low-power image sensor for highly accurate and low-power person and object detection systems.
• Edge ImpulsecoreTechnology or IntegrationSyntiant partnered with Edge Impulse to deliver an NDP101-powered Arduino-compatible TinyML development board for edge ML development.
• EoxyscoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerEoxys XENO+ ML SOM integrates Syntiant NDP120 with second-generation Core 2 engine, providing AI and machine learning capabilities with Wi-Fi/BLE/LTE wireless connectivity for consumer and industrial segments.
• InfineoncoreTechnology or IntegrationSyntiant introduced its latest generation NDP120 evaluation kit for audio and sensor applications in partnership with Infineon as a partner ecosystem.
• AmbarellacoreTechnology or IntegrationAmbarella's vision processors are integrated with Syntiant's solutions to enable cameras to extract valuable data from high-resolution video streams for edge AI applications.
• MLCommonscoreGTM or Marketing PartnerMLCommons provides benchmarking for ML software; Syntiant's NDP120 achieved outstanding results in MLPerf Tiny v1.1 and v1.3 benchmark suites.
• tinyML FoundationcoreGTM or Marketing PartnerSyntiant is a partner and executive sponsor of the tinyML Foundation, a non-profit advancing energy-efficient ML computing applications; NDP200 won 'Best Product of the Year' at tinyML Summit.
• TDK (InvenSense Sensor Partner Program)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerTDK launched the InvenSense Sensor Partner Program with Syntiant as an AI chip partner alongside Renesas, Qualcomm, and Ambarella to accelerate IoT designs using InvenSense MEMS sensors.
• EDGE AI FOUNDATION (Defense Working Group)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCo-founding member of the EDGE AI FOUNDATION Defense Working Group with Qualcomm, Wind River, Dell Technologies, Expanso, and Embedl; addresses edge AI challenges for defense and government operations.
• Trident IoTcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerTrident IoT and Syntiant announced a collaboration to develop a low-power audio AI sensor platform combining Trident IoT's multi-protocol IoT connectivity with Syntiant's edge AI for safety, security, and wellness applications.
• Novi SpacecoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerNovi Space and Syntiant demonstrated real-time low-power AI inference in low Earth orbit using Novi's SP240 space-edge computer and Syntiant's quantized neural network models as part of the GENIE platform.
• Artist IncludedcoreTechnology or IntegrationArtist Included uses Syntiant's AI audio de-mixing and voice restoration technology to power its music platform, debuting a reimagined 'Karma Chameleon' recording featuring Boy George, distributed via BMG.
• Positioning UniversalcoreTechnology or IntegrationPositioning Universal and Syntiant co-developed the PUI TM94 AI-powered telematics device using the Syntiant NDP100 for sound-based collision, glass breakage, and intrusion detection without cloud connectivity.
• OrosoundflagshipStrategic or Co-development PartnerSyntiant completed acquisition of Orosound, a Paris-based audio technology company, gaining AI-powered Open-Ear Active Noise Cancellation and Face-to-Face Conversation capabilities.
• AudioSourceREflagshipStrategic or Co-development PartnerSyntiant completed acquisition of AudioSourceRE, a Cork, Ireland-based audio company providing the DeMIX platform for AI-powered sound separation in music production, broadcasting, and film post-production.
• Knowles CorporationflagshipStrategic or Co-development PartnerSyntiant completed acquisition of Knowles Corporation's Consumer MEMS Microphones division for $150 million in cash and stock in December 2024; Jeffrey S. Niew of Knowles Corporation joined Syntiant's Board of Directors.
• In-Q-TelcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerIn-Q-Tel provided strategic support for Syntiant's dual-use Vision Transformer designed for defense, intelligence, and public sector applications.
• Pilot.aicoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerSyntiant acquired Pilot.ai to enhance its vision model offerings, integrating these capabilities with its silicon products including the NDP250.
• BMGminorGTM or Marketing PartnerBMG distributes the reimagined 'Karma Chameleon' recording powered by Syntiant technology and Artist Included globally on digital music platforms and as a limited-edition vinyl at Generation Records in New York City.
• onsemicoreTechnology or IntegrationSyntiant and onsemi partnered to integrate Syntiant's V2S200DZA vibration sensor with onsemi's Hyperlux image sensor for enhanced vehicle safety and performance.
• SeltechcoreChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorSeltech showcases Syntiant always-on AI voice solutions at Embedded World 2026 (March 10-12, 2026, Nuremberg), bringing smart frames, voice remotes, and TWS designs to everyday devices.
• Special Operations Warrior FoundationminorGTM or Marketing PartnerSyntiant is a proud sponsor of the Special Operations Warrior Foundation, supporting military service members.
• DigiKeycoreChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorSmart Frame reference design (SYN-T08N) is available for purchase on DigiKey's storefront for OEMs and eyewear brands.

Scale indicators19 records

Recent moves7 records

Expansion highlights8 records

Direct peers

• Ambiq Micro: Ambiq Micro designs ultra-low-power SoCs (Apollo, Artemis) for always-on AI and voice at the edge, with similar sub-mW positioning targeting wearables, hearables, and IoT. Like Syntiant, Ambiq pitches sub-milliwatt inference as a battery-life differentiator versus general-purpose MCUs, making it the closest head-to-head competitor in the always-on edge AI silicon category.
• BrainChip Holdings: BrainChip's Akida neuromorphic processor targets always-on edge AI in voice, vision, and vibration with event-based, low-power on-chip inference. It is the most direct architectural peer to Syntiant's NDP family for always-on, cloud-free AI in hearables, smart sensors, and industrial use cases.
• Hailo: Hailo builds edge AI accelerators (Hailo-8, Hailo-15) focused on computer vision and multimodal inference at the edge for cameras, automotive, and industrial. While more vision-centric and higher-power than Syntiant's NDPs, Hailo is a directly comparable edge AI silicon peer competing for the same design-in slots in smart cameras, automotive, and IoT gateways.

Broad incumbents

• Qualcomm Technologies: Qualcomm offers Hexagon NPUs inside Snapdragon and the QCC Bluetooth audio SoCs that Syntiant pairs with via the Qualcomm Extension Program. It is both a partner and a broad incumbent — its integrated AI capabilities in mobile/edge SoCs could displace discrete NDPs in some categories while still serving as a co-processor host in others.
• STMicroelectronics: STMicroelectronics is a leading MEMS microphone and low-power MCU supplier (STM32, SensorTile) with broad automotive and industrial reach. Following Syntiant's Knowles MEMS acquisition, ST is the most relevant incumbent in MEMS microphones and AEC-qualified automotive sensors, with overlap on edge AI MCU platforms (STM32N6).
• Arm Holdings: Arm's Cortex-M cores and Ethos-U NPUs underpin most edge AI MCUs and serve as the host architecture for many NDP deployments. Arm is a broad incumbent shaping the competitive landscape for edge AI silicon, including the standards Syntiant's hardware-agnostic ML models target.

Emerging players

• Eta Compute: Eta Compute (acquired by MediaTek-affiliated entities and active in low-power edge AI SoCs) develops ultra-low-power AI vision/audio processors for battery-constrained endpoints. It competes in the same always-on edge AI category as Syntiant's NDP120 and NDP200.
• Mythic AI: Mythic builds analog compute-in-memory edge AI inference accelerators targeting vision and sensor analytics at low power. It is an emerging player pursuing the same on-device AI efficiency narrative as Syntiant, with comparable emphasis on displacing cloud-based inference.
• CEVA, Inc. CEVA licenses DSPs and AI processors (NeuPro, WhisPro, SensPro) for edge AI audio, vision, and sensor fusion. It is an emerging player in the same hardware-agnostic edge AI IP space where Syntiant positions its ML model and SDK portfolio, particularly for hearables and IoT.

Others

• Knowles Corporation: Knowles divested its Consumer MEMS Microphones division to Syntiant in Dec 2024 for $150M (Knowles retained its precision devices and hearing-health businesses). It is not a direct competitor post-deal but remains a relevant peer in the broader MEMS/sensor ecosystem and a board-level counterparty for Syntiant.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat6 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/syntiantcorp
• YouTubeyoutube.com/@Syntiant
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/syntiant-corp
• Facebookfacebook.com/syntiant

Compliance3 records

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles10 records

Subsidiaries7 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds8 records

Investors22 records

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A4 records

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Syntiant