Eyenix aims to fill vacuum left by HiSilicon in CCTV SoC market

Fabless company Eyenix said on Thursday that it will be supplying its internet protocol (IP) camera SoC EN675 series for CCTVs to Seyeon Tech, Cellinx Systems, and Webgate.

EN675 SoC will be used in two IP security cameras that Seyeon Tech will launch at the end of June, a Eyenix spokesperson said.

The chips will be used in IP camera modules and sets launched by Cellinx Systems and Webgate in July, they added.

CCTVs that use these companies’ camera modules will launch in the fourth quarter.

Eyenix said it expected to supply around 20,000 to 30,000 units SoC per month to its new customers.

Eyenix’s SoC supports video processing, telecommunication and encryption, all in one chip. It is integrated with sensors and memory to become a camera module. This module is then applied to a CCTV for used in and around buildings.

EN675 was designed based on RISC-V cores. It has four 64-bit cores that support 594MHz. It has an image signal processor that supports 130dB WDR and 4K resolutions. It also has a neural processing unit with 1.2TOPS AI processing capacity. The chip has an object racking algorithm that can detect faces and automobiles. EN675 will be made using the 28-nanometer process of Samsung Foundry.

Eyenix said EN675 could also be used in automotive application. The company said the chip is offered at the same price range as those of HiSilicon, making it price competitive.

The CCTV camera chip market was dominated by HiSilicon prior to US sanctions against its parent company Huawei. The Chinese chip firm is thought to have held a market share of 90%. But CCTV companies, as they are blocked from using HiSilicon’s products, are looking for alternative SoC suppliers.

Intel, Qualcomm and Ambarella of the US, Novatek of Taiwan, and Pixelplus and Siliconfile of South Korea are Eyenix’s competitors in this sector.

Eyenix was founded by ex-Samsung Electronics researcher Hwang Jung-hyun. The company has 40 researchers working on core design. It offers high resolution image signal processors, EX-SDI video and audio transfer technology and industrial security IP.