Arteris, Inc. (AIP) announced a new licensing agreement with Black Sesame Technologies that grants the Chinese autonomous‑driving company rights to Arteris’s Ncore 3 cache‑coherent network‑on‑chip (NoC) IP and FlexNoC 5 non‑coherent NoC IP with physical awareness. The deal is part of Black Sesame’s strategy to accelerate the development of next‑generation autonomous‑driving system‑on‑chip (SoC) designs, and it builds on a partnership that began in 2019 when Black Sesame first adopted earlier FlexNoC versions.
The agreement is expected to generate recurring license fees and royalties over the life of Black Sesame’s product line. While the exact financial terms are not disclosed, the transaction is a significant addition to Arteris’s automotive portfolio, a segment that now accounts for a growing share of its royalty revenue. Arteris’s Q3 2025 results—$17.4 million in revenue and a GAAP net loss of $9.0 million—highlight the company’s continued focus on high‑margin IP sales, with ACV plus royalties of $74.9 million and a remaining performance obligation of $104.7 million. Management updated its full‑year 2025 revenue guidance to $68.8–$69.2 million on November 4, 2025, reflecting confidence in the continued demand for its interconnect IP.
Black Sesame Technologies, which went public on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange on August 8, 2024, is a leading player in the automotive‑grade high‑computing‑power SoC market, ranking third globally in 2023. The company reported a net loss of 4.86 billion yuan in 2023, but its strategic importance to China’s domestic chip industry and its focus on autonomous driving make the partnership a high‑profile win for Arteris. The deal aligns with industry trends toward AI‑driven vehicles and the increasing complexity of SoC designs, including chiplet architectures.
CEO K. Charles Janac said the partnership “demonstrates the growing demand for AI and autonomous‑driving solutions and reinforces Arteris’s position as a trusted partner for complex SoC designs.” Janac added that the expanding product portfolio and high‑growth markets such as AI and automotive are key drivers of the company’s long‑term growth opportunity. The licensing agreement is therefore a strategic milestone that strengthens Arteris’s recurring revenue stream and positions it to capture a larger share of the automotive‑AI market.
The deal also signals a broader shift in the semiconductor IP market, where companies are increasingly targeting automotive and AI applications. By providing both cache‑coherent and non‑coherent NoC IP with physical awareness, Arteris is addressing the performance, power‑efficiency, and time‑to‑market challenges that are critical for autonomous‑driving SoCs. The partnership is expected to accelerate Black Sesame’s product development cycle and reduce wire congestion, thereby improving place‑and‑route efficiency and shortening time‑to‑market for its autonomous‑driving solutions.
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