AnaFlash announced on the 21st that it has received an additional $500,000 (approximately 660 million won in Korean currency) in Phase 2 Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) funding from the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) to conduct research and development on energy-efficient non-volatile neural network microprocessors (MCUs) for battery-powered edge devices.

AnaFlash, a Silicon Valley-based developer of non-volatile smart MCUs for edge computing, expects to accelerate power efficiency in non-volatile solutions with the NSF support.

It is said to have benefits such as executing calculations in the location where necessary data is stored, executing complex artificial intelligence tasks energy-efficiently, and minimizing idle-mode power consumption. These solutions result in significantly extended battery life in edge devices.

“NSF accelerates the translation of emerging technologies into transformative products and services,” said Erwin Gianchandani, NSF’s associate director for Technology Innovation and Partnerships. “We are excited to fund deep-tech startups and small businesses that will transform science and engineering findings into meaningful solutions for today and the future.”

“We expect this additional funding from NSF to accelerate the commercialization of our laboratory-based technology,” said Song Seung-hwan, co-founder and CEO of AnaFlash. “We are grateful for the opportunity to turn our research into a real product.”