What happened
Shares of Himax Technologies (HIMX +4.53%) have soared today, up by 28% as of 2:10 p.m. EDT, after the company announced a new offering that supports an artificial intelligence (AI) framework created by Alphabet (GOOG +2.77%) (GOOGL +2.81%) subsidiary Google. Himax had said in February that it was collaborating with Google.
So what
Himax is launching WiseEye WE-I Plus HX6537-A, a new processor that will support Google's TensorFlow Lite for Microcontrollers. Introduced last year as a new variation of TensorFlow, TensorFlow Lite is a framework that allows developers to implement deep learning and AI on low-power mobile and embedded devices. The WiseEye offering includes a processor and an always-on sensor (AOS sensor).
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The HX6537-A processor is power-efficient and incorporates hardware accelerators for motion detection, image processing, and object detection. By supporting TensorFlow Lite, developers can use the broader TensorFlow ecosystem on Himax's low-power hardware.
Now what
"Himax WE-I Plus, coupled with Himax AoS image sensors, broadens TensorFlow Lite ecosystem offering and provides developers with possibilities of high performance and ultra low power," added Pete Warden, who leads technical development of TensorFlow Lite at Google. "Himax continues to demonstrate its expertise in developing innovative technologies that enable the company to partner with leaders such as Google in the [Artificial Intelligence of Things] industry."
"We are collaborating with leading partners within the ecosystem to reduce time to market for intelligent edge vision solutions," Himax CEO Jordan Wu said on the last earnings call. "Notably, we are working closely with Google and have become the reference design for its world-leading TensorFlow Lite AI framework targeting low-power edge devices."
