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EnSilica and Codasip announce strategic partnership

EnSilica and Codasip announce strategic partnership to bring CHERI cybersecurity to automotive, critical national infrastructure, defence and aerospace applications  

 

Oxfordshire, United Kingdom and Munich, Germany, – September 18, 2025: EnSilica, a fabless supplier of mixed-signal and digital ASICs, and Codasip, a provider of functionally-safe and cyber-resilient RISC-V CPUs, announces a strategic partnership to enable custom ASICs incorporating CHERI (Capability Hardware Enhanced RISC Instructions), Post-Quantum Cryptographic (PQC) acceleration, and advanced system-level security and safety features. These will serve industrial, automotive, critical national infrastructure, including defence and aerospace applications.

 

CHERI represents a transformative hardware security architecture designed to mitigate memory safety vulnerabilities, one of the most significant sources of modern cyberattacks, and provides fine-grained compartmentalisation to increase software robustness and resilience.

 

EnSilica will use Codasip’s portfolio of 32-bit and 64-bit CHERI RISC-V processors as the foundation for developing customer-specific System-on-Chip (SoC) integrated circuits. These secure platforms will integrate processing, PQC and classical encryption hardware, and tailored analogue and digital functionality to meet the precise requirements of the end application.

 

Ian Lankshear, CEO of EnSilica said: “Cybersecurity has become a defining challenge for automotive, industrial and defence systems, with attacks growing in scale and sophistication. This partnership positions EnSilica at the forefront of delivering cyber-resilient chips that combine CHERI’s hardware-enforced memory safety with post-quantum cryptography. By building on Codasip’s advanced CHERI RISC-V processors, we can offer customers complete, application-specific ASIC solutions with security and functional safety designed in from the ground up. We are excited to work with Codasip to bring this next generation of trusted silicon to market.”

 

Dr Ron Black, CEO of Codasip added: “The partnership will help to unlock the full potential or our leading-edge 32-bit and 64-bit CHERI RISC-V CPUs. Developed in line with ISO 26262 functional safety and ISO 21434 cybersecurity standards, our processors come with a complete ecosystem including CHERI toolchain, CHERI Linux, and CHERI RTOSes. By combining these with EnSilica’s ASIC expertise, we can accelerate the adoption of CHERI-based security in mission-critical applications.”

EnSilica Establishes New EU Mixed-Signal Design Centre in Budapest, Hungary

EnSilica is establishing of a new design centre in Budapest, Hungary.

 

The facility strengthens EnSilica’s presence in the European Union and taps into Budapest’s deep technology ecosystem, which hosts numerous leading automotive and industrial multinationals. This expansion will increase the Group’s global headcount to around 210 employees.

 

By the end of September 2025, the Budapest team will comprise 16 experienced engineers, many with 10 to 20 years’ expertise in mixed-signal chip design. Their technical excellence and collaborative approach are closely aligned with EnSilica’s culture and growth strategy.

 

The centre will focus on developing advanced mixed-signal designs for industrial and automotive applications, providing additional EU-based design capacity to support recent design wins and a strong pipeline of opportunities.

 

EnSilica’s operations now span four UK engineering design centres in Abingdon, Sheffield, Bristol, and Cambridge, alongside international facilities in Bangalore (India), Porto Alegre and Campinas (Brazil), and Budapest (Hungary).

 

Ian Lankshear, Chief Executive Officer of EnSilica, commented: “We are delighted to establish a base in Budapest, a city which has rapidly become a key technology hub in the EU. EnSilica continues to attract exceptionally talented engineers at a time when there is a significant global talent shortage, and this strategic move will allow us to further strengthen our position in our focused market segments to ensure we are ideally placed to capitalise on exciting near-term growth opportunities.”

EnSilica cuts post-quantum cryptography (PQC) silicon area with three-in-one IP block

Oxford, UK, July 21, 2025: EnSilica, a leading maker of mixed-signal ASICs (Application Specific Integrated Circuits), has developed a combined hardware IP block supporting the full CRYSTALS post-quantum cryptography (PQC) suite, saving silicon area, power and cost. The licensable eSi-CRYSTALS PQC accelerator runs Dilithium (FIPS-204), Kyber (FIPS-203) and SHA-3 (FIPS-202) algorithms, which previously required three separate IP blocks.

 

In August 2024, the US National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) released the first three finalised PQC standards, with additional algorithms announced or in draft stages. Dilithium, Kyber, and SHA-3 are advanced cryptographic algorithms designed to secure digital systems against both classical and quantum computing threats. Dilithium is used for digital signatures, providing authentication and data integrity, while Kyber is a key encapsulation mechanism that enables secure key exchange. Integrated into the block is also a hardware-optimised implementation of the cryptographic SHA-3 hash function that creates a digital fingerprint of data allowing for robust integrity verification. Together, these algorithms form the foundation for quantum-resistant security in modern systems, ensuring long-term protection of sensitive information.

 

Ian Lankshear, CEO of EnSilica, commented: “The emerging PQC threat is not just theoretical. Security analysts warn that adversaries can already capture encrypted data today, with the intention of decrypting it in the future when quantum capabilities become available, a tactic known as ‘harvest now, decrypt later’. The implications are profound for those relying on today’s cryptographic schemes, which is why EnSilica’s PQC offering delivers future-proof hardware protection at the silicon level with minimal silicon area for mature and advanced technology nodes.”

 

EnSilica previously announced separate Dilithium, Kyber and SHA-3 algorithms licensed for use by a major semiconductor company for a 5 nm networking ASIC. The new IP offers a more compact implementation than separate cores. EnSilica also has a full suite of classical cryptographic accelerators including ECC, ECDSA, RSA, AES, ChaCha20, and Poly1305. In addition, the company offers a NIST-compliant true random number generator (TRNG).

 

EnSilica Presents Innovation in Silicon-Based Satellite Communications at ISCAS 2025

EnSilica was proud to take part in the IEEE ISCAS 2025 conference, held in London this May, where Omotade Iluromi presented during the Industry Innovation Track.

His talk, titled “Closing the Communications Link to Space with Silicon Systems,” explored how modern silicon technologies are enabling transformative advances in satellite communications. The presentation focused on the role of silicon circuits and systems in meeting the challenges of broadband connectivity — from NGSO constellations and ground terminals to direct-to-handset applications.

Omotade also highlighted EnSilica’s ongoing development of low-cost, high-performance satellite communications ASICs, including Ku and Ka-band RFICs and digital beamformer ICs for both ground and satellite applications.

We’re excited to continue pushing the boundaries of what’s possible in space-based communications.

EnSilica establishes new engineering hub in Cambridge, UK

EnSilica, a leading maker of mixed-signal ASICs (Application Specific Integrated Circuits), has announced it has established a new engineering hub in Cambridge, UK.

 

Drawing on Cambridge’s renowned semiconductor ecosystem, EnSilica has opened a new engineering facility in the city and has recruited six engineers, four of whom hold PhDs, increasing the company’s global workforce to 190.

 

With the addition of this new facility and technical expertise, EnSilica will expand its existing mmWave / RF integrated circuit design capabilities, an area in which the company has already seen significant customer demand. The expansion has been facilitated by the recent UK Space Agency C-LEO-funded award, alongside additional contract momentum and customer wins that continue to support the company’s growth.

 

EnSilica currently operates across three UK engineering design centres in Abingdon, Sheffield and Bristol, alongside additional international engineering facilities in Bangalore, India, and Porto Alegre and Campinas in Brazil.

 

Ian Lankshear, Chief Executive Officer of EnSilica, commented: “We are delighted to have not only secured a team of highly skilled engineers at a time when there is a very real shortage of engineering talent in the UK, but also to establish a firm base in an established UK tech hub like Cambridge, which ideally positions the business to attract additional talent. By further expanding our engineering know-how across the satellite and communications market, I believe that this investment will enable the business to capitalise further on very real and near-term growth opportunities.”

 

EnSilica expands satcoms user terminal portfolio with dual-beam, dual-polarization Ku-band analogue beamformer chipset

Oxford, UK, : EnSilica, a leading maker of mixed-signal ASICs, has announced two Ku-band beamformer integrated circuits, the ENS92051 and ENS92052, which offer best-in-class power consumption and performance. They are designed to address the needs of the next generation of electronically steered antennas for a range of user terminals used with LEO, MEO and GEO satellite constellations.

 

The ENS92051 is the dual-beam Ku-band receiver (Rx) supporting eight channels with separate amplitude and phase control. The Rx carrier frequency range is 10.7 to 12.75 GHz.

 

The ENS92052 is the Ku-band transmitter supporting eight channels with separate amplitude and phase control. The Tx carrier frequency range 13.75 to 14.5 GHz.

 

The eight channels of the chipset can support four dual-polarisation or eight single-polarisation elements.  The highly integrated devices offer low-power and low-cost using phase and amplitude controls with a built-in temperature sensor, and the transmitter has an integral power detector.  The chipset includes a beam table to support very low-latency beam switching and supports a range of power-saving modes.

 

The device SPI bus and control pins operate from standard 1.8V logic at speeds up to 50 MHz, the core voltage is 1.0 V.  Both chips come in a 63-pin Wafer Level Chip Scale Package.

 

The devices will be fabricated and tested in Europe, offering customers a European sovereign supply chain. They are designed to meet the requirements of DO-254 DAL 5 and qualified to AEC-Q100 automotive grade 2.

 

Paul Morris, VP of RF & Communication BU commented:

 

“The addition of these Ku-band beamformer ICs to our portfolio enables our customers to develop the lowest power user terminals which can connect to existing constellations such as Eutelsat/OneWeb.  They also boost the European supply chain in satellite communications which has become increasingly important in recent months.”

 

The chipset is available for sampling to lead customers.

 

ensilica open sign

London Stock Exchange welcomes EnSilica plc to AIM

EnSilica is a designer and supplier of mixed signal ASICs (Application Specific Integrated Circuit). ASICs are Integrated Circuits or semiconductor chips developed for a particular use or product rather than for general purpose usage.  ASICs help differentiate products through optimised hardware making products smaller, faster, lower power, improved security, add novel functionality, improving supply chain security and protecting product from being copied.

 

The Company has expertise in the area of designing complex mixed signal ASICs. Mixed signal ASICs combine digital and analogue functions onto a single chip. They are the most complex chips to design hence the highest value.

The Company was established in 2001 as a specialist consultancy designing ICs on a contract basis. Using over 15 years’ first-hand industry experience, the Company was able to begin transitioning to a fabless design and supply business model in 2016. EnSilica now provides an end-to-end service for the design and supply of ASICs, outsourcing certain elements such as the wafer fabrication of the manufacturing and packaging to third parties – otherwise known as a Fabless Semiconductor Model. This is a proven model for growth and profitability used by many European companies including Dialog Semiconductor, Cambridge Silicon Radio, Wolfson and Nordic Semiconductor.

EnSilica’s customers currently range from global corporations and OEMs to technology start-ups, including automotive Tier 1s, industrial enterprises, as well as large software companies and service providers developing proprietary hardware.  EnSilica is an approved supplier to some of the world’s largest automotive and industrial OEMs and Tier 1 suppliers.

Transaction Details

EnSilica, a leading designer and supplier of mixed signal ASICs (Application Specific Integrated Circuit), is pleased to announce its admission to trading on the AIM market of the London Stock Exchange. Dealings on AIM are expected to commence at 8.00 a.m. on 24 May 2022, under the ticker ENSI and ISIN GB00BN7F1618.

In connection with Admission, EnSilica has raised £6 million through a placing and subscription of 12,000,000 Ordinary Shares at a price of 50p per share and will have a market capitalisation of approximately £37.6 million at the Placing Price.

The Directors believe that the Group has reached a stage in its development where it will benefit from a quotation on AIM and that, as well as providing the Company with the net proceeds of the Fundraising, this will:

  • enhance both transparency and international profile of EnSilica with existing and potential customers;
  • allow the Company to access equity capital creating flexibility to fund growth and support potential M&A opportunities;
  • enable EnSilica to attract, recruit and retain key employees who may be further incentivised through share option schemes ; and
  • create a platform for existing shareholders to participate in the future growth of the Company

Ian Lankshear, Chief Executive Officer of EnSilica commented:

“We are delighted to be floating EnSilica on AIM and believe this represents a major endorsement of our business.  Our quoted status will provide an ideal platform from which to accelerate a number of growth initiatives which will ultimately further expand both market reach and customer footprint.

Having developed a reputation of excellence and innovation over the past 21 years, we firmly believe our mixed signal and RF design and supply capabilities are ideally placed to further capitalise on the significant demand for ASICs across our key markets.

We are excited by the numerous opportunities that being a quoted company will bring and we look forward to further developing EnSilica over the coming years.”

London Stock Exchange Logo

EnSilica to list on London Stock Exchange’s AIM market, expected to begin trading from 24th May

OXFORD, United Kingdom –May 19, 2022 – EnSilica, the UK-headquartered specialist designer and supplier of mixed signal ASICs has announced it is set to be listed on the London Stock Exchange’s AIM market. Trading is expected to begin from the 24th May under the ticker ENSI.

AIM is the LSE’s market for small and medium sized growth companies, with over 1,200 companies listed on it.

In connection with the Admission, EnSilica has raised £6 million (USD 7.4m) through a placing and subscription of 12,000,000 Ordinary Shares at a price of 50p per share and will open with a market capitalisation of £37.6 million (USD 46.6m).

The company designs ASICs for system developers working across the automotive, satellite and healthcare sectors. Its CEO, Ian Lankshear said “Our quoted status will provide an ideal platform from which to accelerate a number of growth initiatives, which will ultimately further expand both market reach and customer footprint.

“Having developed a reputation of excellence and innovation over the past 21 years, we firmly believe our mixed signal and RF design and supply capabilities are ideally placed to further capitalise on the significant demand for ASICs across our key markets.”