industry news
Subscribe Now

Altera Expands Automotive-Grade Product Portfolio with Highly Integrated PowerSoCs

San Jose, Calif., – October 16, 2014 – Altera Corporation (NASDAQ: ALTR) today announced nine new Altera® Enpirion® power system-on-chip (PowerSoC) devices that fully comply with the Automotive Electronics Council (AEC-Q100) qualification standard temperature grade 2, a critical stress test qualification for automotive integrated circuits (ICs). The newly qualified Enpirion devices include step-down PowerSoCs from the EP53xx and efficiency-optimized EN63xx families, supporting load currents up to 12 amps. Unlike discrete power products, these turnkey solutions give designers complete power systems that are fully simulated, characterized and production-qualified, streamlining the design-in process and making it much faster. These pre-tested power solutions are ideal for use with Altera’s automotive-grade Cyclone® FPGAs and SoCs and MAX® FPGAs and CPLDs.

“Our automotive-grade Enpirion PowerSoCs are specified, simulated, characterized, validated and manufacturing-tested as a complete power system. Fewer components and a tightly controlled IC manufacturing processes permit an unsurpassed 45,000-year mean time between failures (MTBF) reliability,” said Dan McNamara, vice president of Altera’s Automotive Business Unit. “By designing with these optimized, proven solutions, our customers can simplify their semiconductor supply chain, minimize bill of materials and accelerate time to market.”

FPGAs and PowerSoCs Enable Next Generation Automotive Electronics

ADAS designers are increasingly turning to FPGAs to run their algorithms at higher frame rates, process multiple algorithms simultaneously and adapt to the latest trends. This makes thermal performance, energy efficiency, integration and small footprint critical attributes to a winning design. By integrating the inductors, high-frequency filter capacitors, controller, and MOSFETs, Altera’s Enpirion PowerSoCs typically have a 25 to 50 percent smaller footprint compared to alternative discrete switching regulators and modules. Altera is the only programmable logic supplier to offer both FPGAs and PowerSoCs to the automotive market, making it easier for customers to leverage Altera as a one-stop shop for their automotive designs

Altera Enpirion PowerSoCs offer up to 96 percent peak efficiency and are ideal for the following applications:

  • Infotainment and driver information—Head units, display interfaces, instrument clusters, head-up displays (HUDs), human-machine interface (HMI) technology, and rear-seat entertainment (RSE) systems
  • ADAS—Forward-looking cameras, surround view systems, radar, light detection and ranging (LIDAR), rear-view cameras, e-mirrors (electronic mirrors) and telematics (V2X) applications
  • Electric vehicle and powertrain—Engine control unit (ECU), battery management systems, motor control, power conversion (DC/DC, AC/DC) and adaptive suspension

To learn more about Altera AEC-Q100-compliant FPGAs and PowerSoCs, go to www.altera.com/automotive.

About Altera

Altera programmable solutions enable designers of electronic systems to rapidly and cost effectively innovate, differentiate and win in their markets. Altera offers FPGAs, SoCs, CPLDs, ASICs and complementary technologies, such as power management, to provide high-value solutions to customers worldwide. Visit www.altera.com

Leave a Reply

featured blogs
Apr 24, 2026
A thought experiment in curiosity, confusion, and cosmic consequences....

featured paper

Quickly and accurately identify inter-domain leakage issues in IC designs

Sponsored by Siemens Digital Industries Software

Power domain leakage is a major IC reliability issue, often missed by traditional tools. This white paper describes challenges of identifying leakage, types of false results, and presents Siemens EDA’s Insight Analyzer. The tool proactively finds true leakage paths, filters out false positives, and helps circuit designers quickly fix risks—enabling more robust, reliable chip designs. With detailed, context-aware analysis, designers save time and improve silicon quality.

Click to read more

featured chalk talk

Nexperia GaN Power Proliferating in All Things Motor Control/Drive
Sponsored by Mouser Electronics and Nexperia
In this episode of Chalk Talk, Art Gonsky from Nexperia and Amelia Dalton discuss the biggest challenges of electric motors and controllers and how GaN power solutions can help solve these issues. They  also investigate how silicon, silicon carbide and GaN power solutions compare and how Nexperia and NXP technologies can get your next motor control design up and running in no time!     
Mar 25, 2026
30,135 views