Dolphin Design Launches 12nm Silicon for Next-Generation Audio Devices

Dolphin Design, a leading supplier of high-performance analog, mixed-signal, processing intellectual property (IP) as well as ASIC design, has reached a significant milestone with the successful tape-out of its first TSMC 12nm FinFet test-chip containing its state-of-the-art audio IPs. This test chip is the first of its kind to offer a complete solution for audio designs combining high-performance, low-power in a minimal footprint.

Dolphin Design, a semiconductor designer of power management, audio, and processing devices with in-house ASIC design services, announced the launch of WhisperExtractor, a mixed-signal technology for voice and audio-enabled SoCs, enabling voice and sound classification at a record µW level power budget. The new technology paves the way to breakthrough always-on voice user interface, real time speech-to-text, and always-on sound detection.

Want to understand what's ahead in the most revolutionary audio product category of the 21st century? Read the State of the Hearables Industry Market Update. And for product developers and manufacturers, there's also a Headphones Test and Measurement report. Burkhard Vogel discusses op-amp noise in simulated models, Bruce E. Gillingham offers a complete monoblock power amplifier project, and René Christensen writes about acoustic topology optimization. And so much more....

What happened at CES 2023 related to wireless audio and Bluetooth LE Audio. And what might happen at MWC 2023. And why there's lots more happening in assistance, hearables, and Headphones 3.0. This article discusses Bluetooth LE Audio and Android 13. Bluetooth 5.4 updates. Sennheiser's MobileConnect Assistive Listening app that actually works over Wi-Fi. Sonical, Antennaware, et all, Headphone 3.0. UWB, and high-quality wireless audio. Originally published in The Audio Voice 410, February 16 2023.

Sonical, the Silicon Valley company developing an open software platform for hearables, announced a partnership with Dolphin Design, a leading edge computing and embedded AI silicon IP company, and a subsidiary of Soitec, an industry leader in designing and manufacturing innovative semiconductor materials. Together, the two companies are working on a heterogeneous computing platform to design ASIC/SoCs with an innovative operating system that will change the end-user experience with hearables.

Dolphin Design, an advanced chip design company and leading specialist in Edge Computing and AI platforms, and Big Fish Semiconductor have entered into a long-term partnership. Big Fish Semiconductor’s U2 BLE 5.2 Audio AI SoC (TSMC 40nm uLP process ultra-low power audio chip), now in mass fabrication, is the first outcome of this partnership. The high-performance recording capabilities of the U2 BLE 5.2 Audio AI SoC are made possible by Dolphin Design's 24-bit delta-sigma audio ADC, which combines superior audio performance, small area and ultra-low power consumption.