BUSINESS

Finesse Inc. has the mission to design, develop, and market a revolutionary technology to integrate fuel cells into a general silicon wafer. Integrated circuits have not included a power source and therefore can only be components of a system. The system requires several discrete components and accommodations:

1. Circuit board

2. Battery

3. Regulator

4. Power conditioners

5. Noise isolators

6. Logical guard band

7. Connections

8. Assembly time

The innovative technology enables complete fuel-powered integrated systems to be produced on the wafer in a silicon foundry, shrinks the product and lowers the cost. It will pervasively supersede current system-on-chip (SoC) technology, improve functional efficiency and introduce directly fuel-powered devices for the areas of communication, computation, space and medical instrumentation. Satellites and cellular telephones will be users this technology. Multiple fuel cells may be distributed. Compared to standard integrated circuit systems, the new method offers better electro-magnetic (E-M) and high-radiation (RAD) resistance, less power and lower ground noise. The fuel cells provide high energy density, are operational at ambient temperatures and are compatible with logic. Finesse’s new technology will reduce the complexity of portable communication and computing systems, extend their period of mobile operation and enable further expansion of infra-structure and device functionality.

This technology applies to all logical systems. It can compete for a wide variety of uses in many different market segments. The target markets for Finesse are those that present compelling advantages such as high-performance wireless devices, communication satellites, space-based devices, military and emergency applications. Later objectives include pervasive extension into the rest of the SoC market.

Finesse is developing a complete solution fabric as hardware description language (HDL) libraries for integrated circuit design. The design fabric combines independently well-proven processes. Target customers include the US government, communication companies, computer producers and startups in many fields.

Finesse’s technology in ASICs and FPGA modules will enable designers to implement new applications to process high-bandwidth data streams containing high quality images and text at improved size, weight and power (SWAP).

Finesse has a strong technical management team including Dr. Douglas Glen: CEO, Walter Pelton: Chairman and CTO, Dr. Trang K. Ta: VP Engineering, Dr. Larry Williams: Chief of IP Administration and Dr. Nipa Yossakda: Algorithm Specialist.

The CPU and SoC market in 2005 was in excess of $200 billion; it is expected to have continuing overall growth of at least 5%. If the annual growth rate continues for the next five years, it will be $255 billion in 2010. The projected sales revenue of Finesse in wireless communication and computation is expected to grow to over 1% in the next three years (not including licensing). The only significant competition is from discrete battery and solar cell systems plus muscle powered generators in contemporary applications. Revenue from licensing to established companies for commercial products is expected to exceed direct manufacturing and sales income.