On April 5, 2022, BrainChip announced its partnership with SiFive to bring artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) capabilities to edge computing. Both BrainChip and SiFive are complete strangers to the edge computing sector with no patent assets assigned to either of them in the sector, but their partnership could shake up the edge computing market. BrainChip is known for its neural network processing architecture, which is the subject of most of its patent portfolio. BrainChip’s Akida is a neural network processing architecture that is capable of very quick computing while requiring little power consumption, making Akida a key component for bringing AI and ML to edge computing. SiFive’s forte is its configurable multicore processors which are designed for delivering high-throughput with little power consumption. The combination of BrainChip’s computer architecture and SiFive’s multicore processors might be the key to bringing AI and ML to an edge computing environment, something Nvidia, AMD, and Intel have been racing to do.

Although the lack of patent activity from BrainChip and SiFive in the edge computing sector may seem like a weakness, their patent activity in computer architecture gives them enough protection to make them a big player in the edge computing market. Patent Forecast® predicts that if this partnership produces patent activity in the edge computing sector, then Intel will acquire both companies. Intel holds the most patent assets in the edge computing sector with two-hundred and thirteen (213) patent assets, and if Intel wants to retain its control of the edge computing market, then it will have to provide a way of bringing AI and ML to edge computing.