ipXchange loves an unplanned interview, so on the third day of Embedded World 2023, we walked onto the Cologne Chip stand and had an interesting chat with Patrick about the GateMate series of FPGAs. Fabricated by GlobalFoundries in Dresden, Cologne Chip’s devices are the only FPGAs to be made in Europe, and despite a very low cost, they offer best-in-class logic capacity, low power consumption, package size, and PCB compatibility – only two signal layers are required!
As Patrick explains, Cologne Chip are targeting medium- to lower-end applications with their devices, such as control, measurement, and filter design. What sets the GateMate series apart, however, is that such low cost and easy availability means that the doors are open for FPGAs to be used in many applications that were previously thought to be unviable, so let your imagination run wild.
Better yet, for those who are unfamiliar with using FPGAs, Cologne Chip’s CCGM1A1 device requires only 2 power rails to operate, and these can be switched on in any order; designers don’t need to be a power-electronics expert to operate a GateMate FPGA – See AnDAPT’s technology if you’re struggling with a multi-power-rail situation when using a Xilinx device.