<div id="readability-page-1">Low-power FPGA maker Lattice Semiconductor is consolidating its software prowess by acquiring open-source firmware developer AMI in a cash-and-stock deal valued at $1.65 billion. The Duluth, Georgia-based AMI develops platform firmware and infrastructure manageability solutions for cloud and AI environments.The deal is expected to help the Hillsboro, Oregon-based Lattice consolidate its position in the cloud infrastructure, AI, and server management sectors. It will combine AMI’s firmware and orchestration capabilities with Lattice’s low-power FPGAs to create a set of secure management and control solutions aimed at addressing the operational needs of data centers and AI installations.Privately held AMI is majority owned by THL Partners, a middle-market private equity firm. It’s forecast to generate over $200 million in revenue this year. AMI’s MegaRAC BMC and Aptio UEFI firmware products operate at the silicon-level software to boot, manage, and secure servers. The BIOS and baseboard management controller (BMC) firmware products are the first pieces of code that run when a server powers on.Take, for instance, BMC firmware, which is required for every custom accelerator, chiplet design, and AI rack. Especially when AI compute is highly fragmented across multiple processing platforms: AMD, Arm, Intel, Nvidia, and more. AMI was the first firmware partner to validate Arm’s new CPU for agentic AI applications.Ford Tamer, Lattice president and CEO, calls AMI’s solutions a natural strategic complement to his company’s FPGA portfolio. “I believe this combination positions us to help customers design and deploy increasingly complex systems with greater confidence, flexibility, and speed—while preserving the open, agnostic ecosystem our partners and customers value.”The deal marks a strategic pivot that aims to strengthen Lattice’s system-level solutions for managing and securing the complex servers at the heart of modern data centers. For a start, it’s a fusion of a hardware-centric company with a software specialist. And the combination of programmable hardware—FPGAs—with foundational firmware could reshape Lattice’s competitive standing.It will bolster Lattice’s system-level solutions for managing and securing complex servers in AI and cloud infrastructure. Lattice’s low-power FPGAs, when combined with AMI’s firmware and orchestration capabilities, could help create a set of secure management and control solutions to address operational needs in AI data centers.For example, instead of selling an FPGA for security applications, it could offer a security and management architecture. That, in turn, could move Lattice beyond its traditional FPGA rivals, such as AMD’s Xilinx and Intel’s Altera, into a new realm where it offers secure management and control solutions while competing with embedded security specialists such as Microchip and NXP.Next, by embracing AMI’s open-source firmware platform, Lattice could be signaling a broader move toward an open-source FPGA ecosystem. AMI CEO Sanjoy Maity hinted at this possibility when he said that AMI’s platform firmware and infrastructure management solutions will help deliver open, silicon‑agnostic, and multi‑vendor solutions.Lattice, founded in 1983, has a market value of $16.2 billion and is Oregon’s second-most-valuable company after Nike. It employs 1,200 people worldwide. It will be interesting to watch how Lattice assimilates AMI’s software-centric business model into its FPGA world and transforms itself from a component supplier to a system-level solutions provider for the booming AI markets.Lattice Expands Into Mid-Range FPGAsLattice Targets Low Power Edge AI with New Small FPGAGPUs Dominate AI Compute, FPGAs Move Into the AI Data PathMajeed Ahmad, Editor in Chief of EDN and Planet Analog, has covered electronics design industry for longer than two decades. During this period, he has worked in various editorial positions, including assignments for EE Times Asia and Electronic Products. He holds a Masters’ degree in telecommunication engineering from Eindhoven University of Technology. Follow Majeed on LinkedInYou must Register or Login to post a comment.This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.</div>

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Lattice Semiconductor is acquiring open-source firmware developer AMI for $1.65 billion to enhance its software capabilities. This strategic move aims to strengthen Lattice's position in cloud infrastructure and AI sectors by combining AMI's firmware with Lattice's low-power FPGAs. The acquisition is expected to create secure management solutions for data centers and AI installations, marking a shift from a hardware-centric to a system-level solutions provider. Lattice, valued at $16.2 billion, seeks to integrate AMI's open-source platform into its offerings, potentially reshaping its competitive landscape.

FPGA Maker’s Strategic Pivot into Firmware World