EdgeCortix Becomes First Japanese and Semiconductor Company Awarded U.S. Defense Innovation Unit Contract

Milestone Positions EdgeCortix to Drive Breakthrough Efficient AI Edge Solutions for U.S. Defense Operations

TOKYO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--EdgeCortix® Inc., a pioneering fabless semiconductor company specializing in energy-efficient edge Artificial Intelligence (AI), today announced it has been awarded an Other Transaction (OT) agreement by the United States Defense Innovation Unit (DIU). This marks the first time a Japanese company and its U.S.-based subsidiary have secured such an award, highlighting EdgeCortix’s growing prominence in advanced AI solutions.

The OT, awarded in February 2025, empowers the DIU to rapidly evaluate and eventually deploy EdgeCortix’s cutting-edge hardware and software solutions across diverse U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) edge applications. These include critical areas involving AI-powered vision and generative AI technologies.

“We are deeply honored to be the first Japanese company selected for a DIU contract, a testament to the innovative edge AI solutions our team has developed,” said Dr. Sakyasingha Dasgupta, CEO of EdgeCortix. “This partnership not only validates our commitment to advancing energy-efficient AI technologies but also opens up transformative opportunities to contribute to critical global and national security challenges. We are thrilled to collaborate with the DIU team, whose seamless and easy-to-navigate process has made exploring the potential of our solutions across diverse domains—from space and aerial platforms to land-based systems—a rewarding experience. Together, we aim to redefine what’s possible in Defense at the edge.”

Under this initiative, EdgeCortix will demonstrate how its solutions can significantly enhance mission capabilities for military personnel while optimizing platforms, systems, and components utilized across the DoD. The collaboration aligns with DIU’s Resource Optimized Compute program, which seeks to advance modern AI and machine learning systems capable of efficiently collecting, processing, and distributing mission-critical information at strategically decisive speeds. This program aims to ensure a strategic information advantage for national and global security operations across air, space, sea, ground, and cyber platforms. Key applications targeted include advanced AI analytics, real-time decision support systems, autonomous operations, and enhanced situational awareness.

Through a structured, multi-phase process, EdgeCortix and DIU will collaborate with various DoD agencies, leading U.S. defense, aerospace companies and NASA to leverage EdgeCortix technology:

• Benchmarking performance and efficiency of the SAKURA-II AI edge accelerator.
• Validating radiation resilience of the SAKURA-II accelerator for space applications.
• Exploring opportunities for deployments across DoD platforms.

This collaboration underscores EdgeCortix’s milestone achievement as the first Japanese company to receive DIU funding, significantly advancing edge AI solutions for national and global security.

DIU Project Spotlight: Hybrid Space Communications Network Leverages Commercial Technology, Enabling Faster Decision-Making on the Battlefield: https://www.diu.mil/latest/hybrid-space-communications-network-leverages-commercial-technology-enabling

About EdgeCortix Inc.

Pioneering the future of the connected intelligent edge, EdgeCortix is a fabless semiconductor company focused on energy-efficient AI processing of Generative-AI workloads at the edge. Founded in 2019 with R&D headquarters in Tokyo, Japan, EdgeCortix delivers a software-first approach with its patented “hardware and software co-exploration” system to design an AI specific runtime reconfigurable accelerator from the ground up. EdgeCortix’s products disrupt the rapidly growing edge AI hardware markets including defense, aerospace, smart cities, industry 4.0, autonomous vehicles and robotics.

For more information about EdgeCortix, visit https://www.edgecortix.com/en/.