Blueshift Memory starts £2.77 million development project with AP Memory and Syntronix of Taiwan

Innovate UK awards UK-Taiwan bilateral grant to Blueshift Memory to integrate its IP into AP Memory’s 3D high bandwidth memory chips in partnership with Syntronix, under collaboration agreement signed between the three partners

Cambridge, UK — 17 February 2025 — Blueshift Memory, designer of a novel proprietary high-speed memory architecture, has been awarded a prestigious UK-Taiwan Bilateral collaborative research and development (CR&D) Grant by Innovate UK, with a project value in the UK of £1.2 million. Under the grant, Blueshift Memory will work with AP Memory and Syntronix to develop next-generation 3D high bandwidth memory chips integrating Blueshift Memory’s innovative memory architecture (the Cambridge Architecture™).

An additional NT$65 million (£1.57 million) is being invested in Taiwan, jointly by the Department of Industrial Technology (DoIT) and from private matched funding. Blueshift Memory, AP Memory and Syntronix signed a joint collaboration agreement at the end of 2024, ahead of the formal commencement of the project on 1 January 2025.

The 30-month project, led by Blueshift Memory, is entitled “New high performance computer architecture implementation in high bandwidth memory and connect to AI and data-intensive applications”. The project will involve Blueshift Memory working in collaboration with the two Taiwanese manufacturers to develop a new version of AP Memory’s very high bandwidth memory (VHM™), integrating Blueshift Memory’s IP.

This latest Innovate UK grant follows on from Blueshift Memory’s successful Smart grant project, under which it developed a next-generation computer vision (CV) application on edge devices for the Internet of Things (IoT), based around the Cambridge Architecture.

“AP Memory is committed to driving innovation in IoT and AI, and establishing global partnerships is an important part of our strategy to deliver cutting-edge, competitive products,” said Wen Chen, CTO at AP Memory. “Integrating the Blueshift Memory technology into our VHM product promises to further enhance its bandwidth and reduce energy consumption, thus increasing our chip’s competitive edge.”

“We are very excited about working with AP Memory and Syntronix on this project,” said Helen Duncan, CEO of Blueshift Memory. “Having already validated the performance of our architecture in FPGA, this partnership will allow us to demonstrate its potential in silicon in 2026 and will advance our roadmap by at least two years. We are grateful to the ongoing support of Innovate UK, who co-funded the initial development of our demonstrator, as well as our participation in two Global Business Innovation Programme (GBIP) missions to Taiwan. We also acknowledge the important role played by both the Department of Business and Trade and the British Office in Taiwan in helping us to develop these relationships.”

Innovate UK, the UK’s innovation agency, works in partnership with Taiwan’s DoIT to co-fund these collaborative research and development (CR&D) projects, focused on industrial research. The Innovate UK element of the funding is made through the International Science Partnerships Fund (ISPF).

“We congratulate Blueshift Memory on being awarded this bilateral grant, as one of only nine successful joint projects to the very competitive funding call,” said David Campbell-Molloy, Partnership Manager – Asia at Innovate UK. “Blueshift Memory’s proposal ticked all the right boxes, by exploiting both the UK’s expertise in semiconductor design IP and Taiwan’s position as the global leader in high-performance silicon chip manufacturing. We are delighted to be supporting them on their growth and scaling journey.”

About Blueshift Memory

Blueshift Memory’s proprietary chip design optimizes the memory architecture for more efficient handling of large data sets and time-critical data, enabling up to 1,000 times faster memory access for specific data-focused applications. These include high performance computing, artificial intelligence (AI), computer vision for augmented and virtual reality (AR/VR), 5G/6G edge connectivity and the Internet of Things (IoT). The focus of Blueshift Memory’s technology is the Cambridge Architecture™, the next-generation technology for stored-program machines, designed to replace the currently-used modified Harvard architecture and to overcome the traditional constraints of the von Neumann bottleneck. For more information see www.blueshiftmemory.com.

About AP Memory

Founded in 2011 and listed on the Taiwan Stock Exchange (TWSE: 6531), AP Memory is a global, fabless semiconductor company headquartered in Hsinchu, Taiwan. With over two decades of industry experience, AP Memory provides customized memory design and IP solutions that meet the diverse needs of our customers.

AP Memory is committed to provide high performance, low-power and innovative customized products and solutions for applications such as mobile connectivity, wearable, high-performance computing, and edge computing. We are driving innovation in the IoT and AI spaces by partnering with the global semiconductor supply chain to deliver cutting-edge, competitive products. For more information see www.apmemory.com/en/

About Syntronix

Syntronix was founded in 2001 as a dedicated IC and system level development company. The management team formed alliances with the major foundry providers and leading design companies to develop both logic & Mixed-Signal IP. By closely collaborating with assembly/testing vendors, Syntronix is able to provide customers with a one-stop solution using customized vertical integration design methodology and turn-key service.

Syntronix transformed the business focus to the design, develop and sales of Wireless SoC products in 2010. Following the onset of the IoT era, Syntronix successfully developed a Bluetooth Low Energy SoC, which has found wide adoption in smart device and power and system control.

In recent years, Syntronix has cooperated with PSMC to expand its presence in the artificial intelligence (AI) market, and has been developing a low-cost AI chip. For more information see www.syntronix.com.tw/index.php/en/home-en/

About Innovate UK

Innovate UK drives productivity and economic growth by supporting businesses to develop and realise the potential of new ideas.

We connect businesses to the partners, customers and investors that can help them turn ideas into commercially successful products and services and business growth.

We fund business and research collaborations to accelerate innovation and drive business investment into R&D. Our support is available to businesses across all economic sectors, value chains and UK regions.

Innovate UK is part of UK Research and Innovation. For more information visit www.innovateuk.ukri.org.