This development came after Heronic's impressive showing at the UK-APAC Tech Growth Programme's reverse pitch event in London this September.

Heronic’s unique technology allows for the custom design of chips tailored to specific AI applications, enhancing performance and efficiency far beyond standard architectures. This breakthrough caught the attention of ROHM's innovation and strategy teams, who are keen to integrate Heronic's expertise into their efforts to advance power semiconductor materials and explore emerging fields like AI, photonics, spintronics, and quantum technologies.

The reverse pitch event, hosted by the UK-APAC Tech Growth Programme at Asia House in London, showcased seven pioneering UK companies. Each had the opportunity to demonstrate how their technologies aligned with ROHM’s strategic goals, followed by a Q&A session and networking to facilitate further collaboration.

Alexander Montgomerie-Corcoran, CEO of Heronic Technologies, commented: “We’re honoured that ROHM selected us as the winning company in this highly competitive reverse pitch. Our technology significantly boosts the energy efficiency and performance of AI and machine learning applications.

“ROHM has a global reputation for innovation in the electronics industry and we’re excited at the opportunity to integrate our AI-driven solutions into its advanced semiconductor products.”

Koji Taniuchi, General Manager of ROHM’s Technology Innovation Team, said: “We’re constantly on the lookout for startups with the cutting-edge technology to create new businesses over the next 10-20 years. We’re particularly focusing on exploring technologies that integrate optoelectronics and spintronics.

“During this pitch event, seven startups with excellent technologies and ideas gathered from across the UK and presented their proposals to us. Each was outstanding, making it difficult to choose, but we selected Heronic as we expect its bespoke AI design environment to accelerate our digital strategy.”

The other companies participating in the reverse pitch were: Finchetto, Paragraf, Quantum Motion, Qontrol, Vector Photonics, Wave Photonics

Jeremy Shaw, leader of the UK-APAC Tech Growth Programme, congratulated Heronic Technologies on their success: “These events are designed to showcase the very best of UK innovation to APAC’s top industry players. We’re thrilled that Heronic Technologies has earned this exciting opportunity to engage with one of Japan’s most respected semiconductor companies.”

The UK-APAC Tech Growth Programme, delivered on behalf of the government by international business development consultancy Intralink, helps high-growth technology companies explore and expand into the APAC region. Participating companies benefit from market entry guidance, business development support and connections to potential partners and customers. The programme covers 11 markets including Japan, South Korea, Singapore, Taiwan and Australia.