Gigantor Technologies Wins the Arm Silicon Startups Contest 2025

Every startup begins with a problem, and the drive to solve it differently.

That spirit is what the Arm Silicon Startups Contest, held in partnership with Silicon Catalyst, is designed to celebrate. Now in its third  year, the contest builds on the foundation of the Arm Flexible Access for Startups Program, which offers any qualifying early-stage semiconductor company with $0 access to wide range of Arm IP,  along with tools, models, and expert guidance to help them move quickly from concept to working silicon.  

Contest winners receive additional support, including technology credit, dedicated visibility across Arm’s channels, and closer collaboration opportunities. It’s one way Arm is helping bring breakthrough silicon ideas to life, faster, and with fewer barriers.

This year’s entrants tackled some of the industry’s most pressing challenges – from accelerating AI inference in real-time to embedding lightweight, post-quantum-ready security into the most area and power constrained devices.

Gigantor Technologies takes the top spot in Arm Silicon Startups Contest 2025

Based on comprehensive reviews and detailed deliberation among the judges, we are excited to announce that the Florida-based Gigantor Technologies is the winner of the Arm Silicon Startups Contest 2025 and has been awarded $250,000 in Arm technology credit towards a commercial tape out.

Founded by Don Gaspar, a former Apple engineering lead and veteran CTO, Gigantor set out to solve a specific challenge: how to deliver fast, consistent AI inference for real-time video streams at the edge, where low latency and high throughput matter just as much as efficiency. While many AI systems are built on general-purpose compute platforms, the company took a different approach.

As Gaspar says, “Everyone’s been pushing Moore’s Law using the same old approach. We asked, what if there’s a better way?”

That question led to the development of GigaMAACS, a novel pipeline-based architecture that is purpose-built for AI inference. Instead of relying on instruction-based processing, GigaMAACS uses a pipelined circuit architecture designed to process AI models with consistent throughput and minimal latency, all within a self-contained system that includes its own multipliers, adders, and accumulators.

Gigantor has already demonstrated its architecture on FPGAs, running four simultaneous HD video feeds at 60 frames per second with no dropped frames, microsecond-level latency, and up to 90% lower power usage compared to conventional solutions. This level of performance has already attracted interest from industries where consistent, real-time processing is essential, including AR/XR, and autonomous systems.

The $250,000 award will help Gigantor move from prototype to production. As part of the contest, the team now has zero-cost access to a broad portfolio of Arm IP, which they will integrate to manage model swapping, inference output, and system-level coordination. They also gain engineering guidance, best-in-class design tools, and ecosystem visibility through Arm’s global channels.

“The contest gives us market validation, IP and tools we wouldn’t normally have access to,” Gaspar said. “It moves us faster toward customers, production, and impact.”

Gigantor’s AI pipeline will be complemented by Arm IP to manage control tasks, model switching, and inference output, further demonstrating how custom acceleration and Arm’s efficient processing can work together as a part of a complete edge AI system.

Looking ahead, the company expects to scale this architecture in silicon to deliver 4K inference at 240 frames per second, while maintaining its compact footprint and energy-efficient profile.

Chevin Technology recognized for scalable, post-quantum-ready protection

The runner-up of Arm Silicon Startups Contest 2025 is Chevin Technology, which will be rewarded with $150,000 of Arm technology credit. Based in Cambridge, U.K., the company is solving a quietly urgent problem – how to build secure systems in silicon that are too small or constrained to run traditional cryptographic security.

Their answer is ChevinID, a patented, hash-based authentication IP that delivers quantum-safe, low-footprint device-level security, all without any additional encryption.

Initially developed to protect the company’s own IP in FPGAs and ASICs for the aerospace, defence, and scientific markets, ChevinID has grown into a flexible security solution for chiplets, systems on chip (SoCs), and embedded devices. It verifies device identity and controls feature access, helping secure the full lifecycle of the product.

Steinn Gustafsson, the founder and CEO of Chevin Technology says, “We’re excited about the ability to secure devices that would otherwise be left unprotected. With legislation like the Cyber Resilience Act (CRA) coming into force, it’s no longer optional.”

Chevin Technology will use its award to design a test chip based on Arm Cortex-M23 and TrustZone, validating ChevinID in smaller geometries as a stepping stone to full chiplet integration. The Arm ecosystem, with its robust toolchain and long-standing developer support, will further help reduce risk and accelerate time to silicon.

In markets like IoT and automotive, Chevin’s lightweight approach could enable compliance with emerging security regulations without adding costly overhead. Moreover, by embedding security at the silicon level, it also addresses broader concerns around IP theft, cloned components, and lifecycle integrity.

Steinn says, “This award and support from Arm and Silicon Catalyst will help us move from FPGA prototypes to custom silicon. It brings us closer to our long-term goal of embedding secure IP directly into chiplets.”

Supporting bold ideas with the right tools, guidance, and IP

Alongside recognizing the leading startup innovators, the Arm Silicon Startups Contest helps enable advancements in custom silicon design. The contest ensures early-stage startup companies have the resources they need to move from bold ideas to working silicon, without barriers that typically slow innovation.

For this year’s winners, that support is already accelerating development. More importantly, it’s helping build new architectures, redefine efficiency, and solve foundational problems in compute.

“Winning the Arm Silicon Startup Contest provides us with tremendous market validation. It helps keep our costs down and gives us access to tools we wouldn’t normally have at this stage.” – Don Gaspar, Founder & CEO, Gigantor Technologies.

If you’re developing a silicon solution and looking for a faster, lower-risk path to commercial success, learn more about how the $0 Arm Flexible Access for Startups can help.