Following the major fire that destroyed the AKM semiconductor factory in Nobeoka, Miyazaki Prefecture, Japan, bringing to a halt manufacturing operations, and strongly affecting the global supply of the critical DAC and ADC chips used by many audio equipment manufacturers, the company is finally resuming production. As audioXpress has learned, the company's official website that hosts information about AKM's Audio and Voice ICs, DSPs, and current sensors, among other products, has been relaunched (www.akm.com) and will be offering more updates.
Asahi Kasei Microdevices is a major supplier of advanced sensing devices based on compound semiconductor technology and sophisticated IC products featuring analog/digital mixed-signal technology. The "AKM" brand reflects the electronic component solutions business of the much larger Asahi Kasei Microdevices Corp., part of the Asahi Kasei Group, with manufacturing operations and offices spread globally.
The fire that lasted for more than three days at AKM's Nobeoka operation at the end of October 2020 was a tragic event in part because that's where all production for the different classes of audio converters was centralized. And not surprisingly, manufacturers that were highly dependent of those components for existing and recently launched products quickly amassed what was left in stock. More than a year since the fire, the company is finally resuming operations.
On the dedicated Velvet Sound website, the company posted the following announcement: "We are preparing to resume the shipment of samples in 2022. Sample shipments have previously been impacted by the fire that occurred in October of 2020 at our semiconductor plant in Nobeoka, Miyazaki, Japan. Details will be announced in January of 2022." Gaku Suzuki also confirmed to audioXpress that by the end of January, AKM is planning to release a new product related to high-end audio ICs.
This is certainly welcome news for the audio industry.
AKM has held a key role in the transition to high-quality digital audio since it released its first-generation delta-sigma modulation analog-to-digital converters (ADC) in 1987. AKM consistently improved conversion resolution, from the first generation of 16-bit devices to 18-, 24-, and 32-bit ADCs, and has increased sampling frequencies from 48kHz to 768kHz, being key to many great-sounding consumer and professional digital audio designs.
For over three decades, AKM shipped billions of these components to more than 2500 manufacturers in high-end audio, consumer electronics, automotive, professional audio, studio equipment and musical instruments. The Velvet Sound audio ICs in particular, reflect the company's expertise in low distortion and low noise and are regarded as a "core technology" in ADCs, DACs, and audio CODECs for very high-quality designs.
The Velvet Sound brand was launched in 2014, bringing with it a new-generation chip architecture. The third-generation Premium DAC, the Verita AK4490, employed AKM’s enhanced low-distortion technology to achieve 120dB SNR, and an industry-best voltage output performance of -112dB THD+N - the world's best distortion characteristics and world's lowest out-of-band noise. In 2019, AKM introduced the flagship Verita AK4499, its first current-output DAC and AKM's highest-performing DAC, with 140dB SNR and -124dB THD+N.
And AKM also introduced the concept of analog and digital parts of the DAC stage into separate ICs. AKM's AK4498+AK4191 combination allows analog ICs to use the AK4498 and digital ICs to use higher-performance DSP and FPGA to increase system-design flexibility and achieve even lower group delay.
In 2020, the company also released a new premium digital-to-analog converter (DAC) using a new audio-optimized LSI manufacturing process - the AK4462VN, a 32-bit stereo premium DAC that is the smallest device in AKM's DAC lineup.
In September 2020, just before the factory fire, AKM introduced the AKM AK4336ECB ultra-low power audio codec, a four-channel ADC and one-channel DAC that supports True Wireless Stereo (TWS) products with active noise cancelling, complementing its complete portfolio of audio systems and sensors for connected wearable solutions requiring smaller and longer battery life. And this is an area that is probably going to define growth for AKM in the near future.
As audioXpress also learned, all the above mentioned AKM chips, including the AK4462, AK4498, AK4499 and AK4336 references are no longer in production. Asahi Kasei Microdevices intends to confirm a new generation of products starting in January 2022.
www.akm.com
www.velvetsound.akm.com
This article was originally published in The Audio Voice newsletter (#354), December 2, 2021.
