NICTA chip plans thwarted by dearth of venture capital

Beverley Head
Friday, 28 August 2009 06:16

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Plans to spin out a fabless semiconductor company to commercialise NICTA’s 60GHz chip, which can transmit data at up to 5 gigabits per second, are being thwarted by the lack of a lead venture capital partner.

When the prototype chips were unveiled in February 2008 there were expectations that a company would be spun out by the end of 2008, securing the $10 million or so needed to bring the chips to market. But project leader Professor Stan Skafidas says it is proving hard to get money out of the venture industry.

“We have demonstrated our first generation prototype which was a single chip transceiver running at 60 GHz on standard CMOS (complementary metal-oxide semiconductor – a common and inexpensive form of semiconductor). We have 40 chips available and are doing a dog and pony show,” he said.

“A lot of people have expressed that they are willing to be part of syndicate but we need to find a lead,” according to Professor Skafidas.

In the meantime the NICTA development team is edging toward the release of its new generation chipset in October.

Applications for the technology are diverse, as the chips allow high speed close-range wireless networking, with fewer synchronisation problems than would be expected if cables were used.

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