What is NXP's thinking on secure connections and analog power supply as the demand for edge AI explodes?

Simplify complex problems

Compared to traditional cloud based AI, edge AI has the advantage of bringing computing and reasoning capabilities closer to the data source, providing faster and safer data processing and decision-making capabilities. Edge AI itself is a highly intelligent system that allows edge devices to autonomously perceive, understand, and respond to data, which also brings new challenges to related components.
Rafael Sotomayor stated that NXP's new slogan is "Brighter Together," with "Brighter" meaning more intelligent. This also reflects NXP's belief in working together with employees, customers, and partners to make the world smarter.

During this process, Enzip saw three clear trends:

One is the improvement of intelligence level, which makes work and production more efficient. Taking smart factories as an example, intelligence enables devices to improve their autonomy and automation level, and can use fewer resources to complete more work.
The second is that various industries are pursuing sustainable development, placing higher demands on equipment energy efficiency, and promoting a shift in energy types. Not only electric vehicles, but many industries have shifted from traditional fossil fuels to electrification.
The third is that intelligence has promoted the development of the Internet of Things, and all connected devices require better information security protection, which is truly information security.
In response to these trends, Rafael Sotomayor shared NXP's strategies, including highly integrated product and solution design, as well as strong security.
Driven by demands for high performance, low power consumption, and high density, edge AI devices are showing a very clear trend towards integrated development. This integration will be divided into many levels, for example, the processor as the core of the system needs to be built into a smart "brain" to integrate data processing and decision-making functions together; At the solution level, due to limited deployment space, many components are integrated together, such as the fusion of sensors and actuators, as well as the integration of drivers and MCUs.
According to Rafael Sotomayor, in addition to hardware integration, NXP is also committed to integrating artificial intelligence technology into all products. "We hope to integrate the best and most advanced artificial intelligence technology into our powerful processors. In NXP's vision, we aim to become an industry leader in developing artificial intelligence for edge devices, covering various edge AI applications from low-power, low-end to high-end, high-performance."
In addition, Rafael Sotomayor believes that "there is a lot of technology integrated into NXP's chips, and the speed of technology development is so fast that in the future, some technologies may exceed the customer's own technology development capabilities. The key is how to ensure that products are easy for customers to use while integrating so many technologies - simplifying complex technologies. This is the value that NXP provides to customers."
Whether it is high performance, integration, or low power consumption, various application characteristics are built on the basis of information security. Data is the foundation of artificial intelligence, playing an important role in carrying, driving, and refining algorithms. At the same time, data is also a prerequisite for edge AI applications to make correct reasoning and decisions. However, including edge AI, artificial intelligence has brought dividends and hidden concerns about data security.
Rafael Sotomayor pointed out that powerful neural processing units (NPUs), strong connectivity, and strong security are essential elements for implementing edge AI.
At the security level, NXP has a wide range of solutions, ranging from information security products that meet basic functional requirements to information security products with high-level certification. These security products have been fully validated in areas with high security requirements such as credit cards, passports, and mobile payments.
"AI has brought greater security challenges, not only for NXP, but also for the whole world. NXP's response is to use AI to counter the attacks brought by AI in the opposite direction. In addition, we also rely on quantum computing because computing power has become very cheap now, and there are many attacks from quantum computing power. We hope to use the capabilities of quantum computing to counter security challenges. Therefore, AI and quantum computing are NXP's two major solutions to security attacks in the AI era, and we have started investing in them," said Rafael Sotomayor.

Creating a complete edge AI solution through collaborative innovation

For any AI application, "AI energy consumption" is a huge challenge. Specifically for edge AI applications, sometimes this challenge can be even more daunting. Therefore, in the overall solution of edge AI, although the core is the processor, the role of analog power devices cannot be ignored.
Jens Hinrichsen stated that simulator devices are also widely used in edge AI solutions. Firstly, without a power source, the entire system cannot function properly; Secondly, for all edge devices, both operating power consumption and standby power consumption should be highly valued; In addition, there are various connections in edge AI solutions, but the real world is full of analog signals, which requires simulating the front-end and sensors to convert analog signals into digital signals.
According to his description, in order to address the various challenges brought by edge AI and other fields, NXP adopts a joint development model in processors and analog power devices. "In terms of power management, we adopt a collaborative approach to work with processors. Through system partitioning, we determine which digital content is processed by processors and which analog content is transferred to analog components. In this process, PMIC is not only a solution for power management, but also a true combination of analog components. Through this collaborative development approach, we are able to consider various factors such as voltage and format, jointly design, define, and optimize our solutions to achieve maximum efficiency."
Jens Hinrichsen stated that in the simulation business, NXP has launched 32 new products this year, demonstrating NXP's continued deep cultivation in the industrial and IoT fields, as well as its continued attention and commitment to the Chinese market. Intelligent factories, home furnishings and buildings, and electrification are the three main areas that NXP focuses on in the Chinese market.

epilogue

The potential of edge AI has gradually been unleashed, and the future prospects are infinitely broad. According to the forecast data released by STL Partners, the potential market size of global edge computing is expected to reach 445 billion dollars by 2030, with a compound annual growth rate of 48% in 10 years. In the field of edge AI, NXP is committed to providing a complete set of solutions, including software, hardware, and security components. When the delivery dimension focuses on the solution, collaborative innovation among various departments of Enzhipu is extremely important.