What Incore Semiconductors does

InCore Semiconductors is a fabless RISC-V processor IP company headquartered in Chennai, India, founded in 2018 as a commercial spin-out of IIT Madras's SHAKTI Microprocessor program. The company designs and licenses configurable RISC-V processor cores across three families — Azurite (2-stage in-order, 150-300 MHz, targeting IoT/security/motor control as an ARM Cortex M0-M4 alternative), Calcite (5-stage in-order with MMU, FPU and Linux support, 500-800 MHz, positioned against ARM Cortex A5/A35), and the pipeline Dolomite Series (8-9 stage superscalar dual-issue, 800 MHz – 1.5 GHz, targeting edge AI, vision compute, networking and mobile) — built on a YAML-driven Core-hub Generator that exposes fine-grain ISA and microarchitectural control.

Its flagship SoC Generator platform automates the full SoC design flow — RTL, interconnect, IP integration, verification (eUVM-based), software toolchain (GCC, LLVM, GDB, OpenOCD), FPGA/ASIC collaterals and documentation — from a single YAML specification, compressing the traditional 12-24 month spec-to-RTL cycle to under a month and reportedly achieving idea-to-FPGA validation in roughly ten minutes. A silicon-validated six-core heterogeneous RISC-V test chip was fabricated on TSMC 40nm in 2025 (with a 28nm tape-out in flight), the first to run Zephyr RTOS on a multi-core RISC-V SoC. The product surface is reinforced by ten or more vertical-specific reference SoCs (Azurite Nexus, EdgeAI, Metering, IP Camera, Drone Controller, Industrial Controller, General Purpose) and an InCore Collective partner ecosystem spanning HCL, Tessolve, SoC.one (design services), SmartDV (verification IP), and Ashling (embedded tools).

InCore earns revenue (or intends to) through IP licensing of cores and reference SoC designs, professional SoC design services delivered with backend partners, and standalone licensing of the SoC Generator platform — all on a quote-based, contact-sales model with no publicly disclosed pricing. Its $3M seed round from Peak XV Partners (formerly Sequoia Capital India, May 2023) followed five years of bootstrapping, and the company is a named beneficiary of India's DLI Scheme under the Semicon India Programme. Customers and design partners named in the input include NXP Semiconductors, SK Hynix, HCL, IGCAR and ISRO, with stated expansion focus on the Bay Area and international aerospace/automotive segments.

Name

Incore Semiconductors

Legal name

InCore Semiconductors

Website

https://incoresemi.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2018

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

InCore Semiconductors is a Chennai-based fabless RISC-V processor IP company, spun out of IIT Madras's SHAKTI program in 2018, that licenses configurable RISC-V cores (Azurite, Calcite, Dolomite) and an automated SoC Generator design platform to fabless semiconductor startups, large fabless NPD teams, and OEMs building custom silicon.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Semiconductor IP

NAICS

Semiconductor and Related Device Manufacturing (334413), Semiconductor Machinery Manufacturing (333242)

SIC

Semiconductors & Related Devices (3674), Services-Computer Integrated Systems Design (7373)

akta.pro primary industry

Hardware/Chip Design IP Cores (Processor, Interface, Analog, Security) (HDAHAFAF)

akta.pro secondary industry

Design Services & ASIC/SoC Implementation (EDA-Adjacent) (HDAHAFAL)

Keywords

• RISC-V processor IP
• SoC design automation
• Configurable processor cores
• Semiconductor IP licensing
• Embedded systems IP

Headquarters

HQ city

Chennai

HQ country

India

HQ region

Asia

Offices3 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Software

Cost components

Personnel

Revenue model

1. IP Licensing: Core revenue stream: licensing of RISC-V processor IP (Azurite, Calcite, Dolomite series), accelerators, fabrics, SoC templates and reference SoC designs to fabless customers. Licensing model is one-time/recurring per design and per use.
2. SoC Design Services & Turnkey Chip Solutions: Design services revenue from full life-cycle chip design support — from concept to ASIC production — delivered in collaboration with backend design partners (HCL, Tessolve, SoC.one) for OEM customers.
3. Reference SoC Licensing: Licensing of pre-integrated reference SoC designs (Azurite Nexus, EdgeAI SoC, Metering SoC, IP Camera SoC, Industrial Controller SoC, Drone Controller SoC, General Purpose SoC) perfected by partners using InCore technology.
4. Pre-Revenue Status: As of late 2024 / early 2025 InCore was operating at pre-revenue stage and intended to start revenues before the close of 2024, with two processor families already shipping into customers and pilot engagements underway.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion4 records

Distribution channels5 records

Marketing channels7 records

Core offering

Incore Semiconductors designs and licenses configurable RISC-V processor IP cores (Azurite, Calcite, and Dolomite series) and sells an automated SoC design platform (SoC Generator) that generates synthesizable RTL, interconnects, verification environments, software toolchains, and documentation from a single YAML specification. The company also licenses pre-integrated reference SoC designs and offers full turnkey chip design services in collaboration with backend partners.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Azurite Series: RISC-V core-hub product line (2-stage in-order 64/32-bit processor) optimized for low-power and resource-constrained applications, targeting IoT, security, motor control, wearables, and smart cards as an alternative to ARM Cortex M0–M4.
• Calcite Series
• Dolomite Series
• SoC Generator
• Core-Hub Generator
• InSoC
• InCore Innovator Access Program (I2AP)
• RiVer
• Axon Series
• Aegis Series
• Chromite SoC

Products and services

• SoC Generator Platform A programmable design-automation platform that takes YAML-based SoC specifications and automatically generates RTL, interconnects, IP integration, verification environments, software collateral (GCC/LLVM/GDB/OpenOCD), FPGA/ASIC flows, and documentation. Compresses spec-to-FPGA validation to ~10 minutes for fabless semiconductor companies and SoC teams.
• Azurite Series Cores (Core-hub) 2-stage in-order 64/32-bit RISC-V processor IP cores operating at 150-300 MHz with RV[64|32]IMACUBP ISA, PMP, and JTAG debug. Positioned as an alternative to ARM Cortex M0-M4 for IoT, security, motor control, wearables, smart cards, and sensor fusion applications.
• Calcite Series Cores (Core-hub) 5-stage in-order 64/32-bit RISC-V processor IP cores at 500-800 MHz with MMU, PMP, IEEE-754 single/double-precision FPU, multi-core capability, and Linux/L4 support. Positioned as an alternative to ARM Cortex A5/A35 for IoT, IP cameras, AR/VR, wearables, and POS terminals.
• Reference SoC Designs Pre-integrated reference SoC designs licensed to customers for rapid deployment, including Azurite Nexus SoC, EdgeAI SoC, Metering SoC, IP Camera SoC, Industrial Controller SoC, Drone Controller SoC, and General Purpose SoC. Designed for verticals such as industrial, IoT, smart metering, edge AI, cameras, drones, and automotive.
• SoC Design Services & Turnkey Chip Solutions Full life-cycle chip design support from concept to ASIC production, delivered in collaboration with backend design partners (HCL, Tessolve, SoC.one) for OEM customers and strategic-sector deployments.

Quantifiable outcome

• Reduces SoC design cycle from 12-24 months to weeks; spec-to-RTL including iterations in 1 month or less
• +5 more outcomes

Named customers5 records

Segments5 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration8 records

AI capability2 records

Feature8 records

Partnerships

Eight partnerships are on record, tiered strategic / foundational ip partner, flagship soc design partner, core soc design partner, core software tool partner, core manufacturing partner, foundational / heritage partner and strategic policy partner.

• SmartDVstrategic / foundational ip partnerTechnology or IntegrationSmartDV is a leading provider of Design and Verification IP, and is InCore's first named third-party IP partner whose IPs are supported by the SoC Generator platform. Announced as a starting "win-win" partner in InCore's IP portfolio expansion.
• HCLflagship soc design partnerImplementation/ SI/ Consulting PartnerHCL Technologies is a global technology services and semiconductor design partner to InCore. They co-develop complete chip solutions in sectors such as electricity meters and cameras, enabling Indian customers to place direct orders. HCL has publicly endorsed InCore as the only provider offering processor IP tailored to their project's needs.
• Tessolvecore soc design partnerImplementation/ SI/ Consulting PartnerTessolve provides semiconductor design, test and manufacturing services and collaborates with InCore on end-to-end chip solutions for verticals like electricity meters and cameras. Their expertise in silicon design, verification, test engineering and packaging complements InCore's IP and SoC Generator.
• Ashlingcore software tool partnerTechnology or IntegrationAshling is a pioneer in embedded development tools — debuggers, emulators, compilers and IDEs — and is part of InCore's "Software tool partners" ecosystem. They complement InCore's RISC-V IP and SoC Generator with embedded software tooling for customers across automotive, aerospace, consumer electronics and telecom.
• SoC.onecore soc design partnerStrategic or Co-development PartnerSoC.one is a System-on-Chip design and development partner that works with InCore on integrated, efficient semiconductor solutions spanning architecture design to silicon implementation. They serve IoT, automotive and consumer electronics customers.
• TSMC (Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company)core manufacturing partnerOEM/ Whitelabel/ Licensing PartnerTSMC is the foundry that fabricated InCore's silicon-validated six-core RISC-V test chip on its 40nm process node, generated by the SoC Generator platform. The partnership is implicit/operational rather than publicly announced as a co-marketing alliance but is foundational to InCore's manufacturing flow.
• IIT Madras (Shakti Microprocessor Program)foundational / heritage partnerStrategic or Co-development PartnerInCore is a spin-out from IIT Madras's Shakti Microprocessor program, led by Prof. Veezhinathan Kamakoti. Multiple RISC-V cores (E-class, C-class) were tape-outs in collaboration with IIT Madras, Intel 22nm FFL and SCL 180nm; collaborators such as IGCAR, ISRO, Thales, Western Digital, Bluespec and MeitY were engaged at the Shakti program level.
• Design Linked Incentive (DLI) Scheme, Government of India (MeitY)strategic policy partnerOthersInCore Semiconductors is a named beneficiary of the DLI Scheme under the Semicon India Programme (launched December 2021). The scheme provides EDA tool access (54M+ hours across 95 companies), 24 sanctioned chip-design projects, 16 tape-outs, 6 chip fabrications and 1,000+ engineers trained. It is transitioning from design validation to productization for InCore and other DLI-supported startups.

Scale indicators8 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights7 records

Direct peers

• SiFive: SiFive is the leading commercial RISC-V processor IP vendor offering core families (E, S, U series) for embedded and applications processing. It is the most direct competitor to InCore's Azurite, Calcite and Dolomite RISC-V core families and targets the same fabless customers.
• Andes Technology: Andes Technology is a Taiwan-based RISC-V and traditional processor IP vendor offering the A-series and NX-series cores for embedded and edge applications. It directly competes with InCore's configurable RISC-V core-hub generators in the same fabless customer base.

Emerging players

• Tenstorrent: Tenstorrent builds RISC-V based AI accelerators and licensable IP for high-performance compute. While primarily an AI hardware company, its RISC-V Wormhole/Blackhole architectures overlap with InCore's Dolomite and planned Axon deep-learning accelerator roadmap.
• Ventana Micro Systems: Ventana offers high-performance RISC-V application processor IP (Veyron V1/V2) targeting data center and edge use cases. It overlaps with InCore's Dolomite series ambitions for high-frequency, superscalar RISC-V cores for edge AI and storage.
• Rivos: Rivos is a RISC-V based server-class processor startup developing high-performance cores with a focus on data center workloads. Its RISC-V core IP and SoC integration efforts make it a relevant emerging peer to InCore's higher-end Dolomite roadmap.

Broad incumbents

• Imagination Technologies: Imagination Technologies licenses CPU IP (MIPS-based Catapult) and GPU/NPU IP to fabless customers across embedded and edge markets. Its CPU IP business competes broadly with InCore's RISC-V cores and reference SoCs, though it does not focus on RISC-V.
• Synopsys: Synopsys is a broad EDA and processor IP incumbent offering the ARC processor family and a wide portfolio of design IP, verification IP and EDA tools. It competes with InCore on IP, verification (eUVM) and EDA flows, and also has relationships through SmartDV-style IP partners.
• Cadence Design Systems: Cadence offers the Tensilica processor IP family plus full EDA tooling and design services that overlap with InCore's RISC-V IP, SoC Generator automation and verification flows. Cadence competes as a broad incumbent across the IP and EDA stack.
• ARM: ARM is the dominant processor IP vendor whose Cortex-M0/A5/A5x families InCore explicitly targets as alternatives with its Azurite, Calcite and Dolomite RISC-V cores. It is the incumbent whose installed ecosystem and software base InCore must displace to win design wins.

Others

• OpenHW Group: OpenHW Group is a not-for-profit RISC-V ecosystem organization producing the CORE-V open-source IP cores and verification infrastructure. It is an ecosystem-level peer to InCore's RISC-V core IP and SoC Generator efforts rather than a direct competitor, but shapes the open RISC-V landscape InCore operates in.

Market position

Strengths1 record

Weaknesses1 record

Competitive moat6 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• GitHubgithub.com/govardhnn/Low_Power_Multidimensional_Sorters
• Xx.com/incoresemi
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/incoresemi

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles4 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds1 record

Investors1 record

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M&A

Investments

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

Frequently asked questions about Incore Semiconductors