ARM FLEXIBLE ACCESS (AFA)

COMPUTE SUB SYSTEM (CSS)

ARM FLEXIBLE ACCESS (AFA)
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Worldwide access to a wide library of Arm IP, tools, and training that are created to support the design process. Products under AFA include, though not limited to, Cortex Processors, Ethos Machine Learning Processors, Corstone IP, CoreLink Interconnect and others.

Every AFA token has an active life of one (1) year, or twelve (12) months from the date of receipt, which shall be decided at the point of award. There shall be five (5) Standard AFA tokens and twenty (20) Entry AFA tokens available for distribution. For the Standard AFA tokens, the number of tape-out allowed during that active period is unlimited, subject to paying respective Tape-Out Fee to Arm; whereas the Entry AFA tokens allow for a maximum of one (1) tape-out for the active period of one (1) year or twelve (12) months subject to paying respective Tape-Out Fee to Arm.

Qualifying Criteria
BACKGROUND

  • Cover Letter

  • Executive Summary

    Summary of the proposal. The AFA token type requested (Entry or Standard), motivation, intention, recommended outputs/outcome, proposed local partners, local value creation and economic impact, etc.

    Board of Director Resolution to be signed by the majority of directors on the appointment of authorized signatory.

  • Company Profile

    Company must be incorporated in Malaysia.

    Information on the background of applicants including certificate(s) of incorporation and ownership structure, organization chart, profile of main team, Size (number of employees, breakdown of engineers), products/services, Market reach and share (optional).

TECHNICAL CAPABILITY

  • Company Technology Background

    Examples of successfully completed IC Design projects and/or other relevant design projects

  • Availability of Workforce and Talents

    Information on the number of Design Engineers (either in-house or in partnership) to be assigned to this proposed project.

    Information on the competency of the IC design team members (either from in-house or in partnership with other companies or universities)

  • Access to Technical Infrastructure: Verified Access to EDA tools

    List of Electronic Design Automation (EDA) tools and software to be used in this project.

  • Project Milestone

    The project milestone for the proposed project

COMMERCIAL REQUIREMENTS

  • Financial viability

    to support the project that consume the token & sound financial status.


    • The last three years of audited financial statements, including the Balance Sheet, Income Statement, and Cash Flow Statement.
    • Cash flow management to ensure there are sufficient liquidity for ongoing projects and operational costs.
    • Revenue growth rate over the past three years.
    • A detailed project budget, including the breakdown of all costs associated with this project.
    • The project's funding source. Self-funded or external financing.

  • Product roadmap and commercial plan

    • A detailed, high-level product roadmap for the next 12-24 months with the key milestones and planned features.
    • The target market for this product with specific targeted customer segments.
    • The unique value proposition and exhibited on how this product will differentiate itself from competitors in the market.
    • Flexibility of the roadmap and the process, towards adapting it to the changing market conditions or new customer feedback.
STRATEGIC ALIGNMENT TO NATIONAL OBJECTIVES

  • Local Shareholder Ownership

    • Full details of registered shareholder, including names, nationality, and percentage of ownership of each shareholder.
    • Information on the percentage of the company's shares that are held by citizens or legal entities of this country.
    • Agreements (e.g., shareholder agreements, special rights attached to certain share classes) which could impact on the control and influence of local shareholders.
    • Information on the local shareholders’ representation on the Board of Directors and in senior management.

  • Based in Malaysia – Technical Talent

    • The company's legal registration status in Malaysia and a copy of the company's registration and incorporation documents is submitted including Certified true copy of Form 9, Form 24, Form 44, Form 49 (Bhd and Sdn Bhd) and Suruhanjaya Syarikat Malaysia (SSM) certificate for sole proprietorship and partnership.
    • Information on full-time employees in this country and the percentage against total global workforce.
    • The list of senior executives and key decision-makers for this company and indication if they are located in this country and if they are Malaysian Citizens.
    • The company’s financial records and accounts are maintained and audited in this country. The Malaysia company tax number available.

  • National Alignment(NSS)

    The write up on how this project is aligned to the country’s National Semiconductor Strategy (NSS).

  • Other Supporting Documents

    If there are any other supporting documents to strengthen the application.

Applicant contact details
Documents needed for application 
Company profile
  • Background of the applicant(s), including certificate(s) of incorporation and ownership structure
  • Size (number of employees and breakdown of engineers)
  • Financial statements, including revenue and profits, for the past two (3) years, and/or latest fundraising rounds
  • Market reach and share (optional)
Product roadmaps
  • Location at which the main design activity is conducted
  • Key products completed, including project name, CPU core used, foundry, target clock speed, number of gates (approx.), tools used, and manufacturing details
  • Future products, ongoing and planned
  • Commercialisation timelines
  • Local partnership strategy
Strategic and
Commercial proposal
  • Business plan for the next two (2) years  
  • Funding model for the CSS applied 
  • Supply chain map-out for the CSS applied, including relevant partners and their capabilities 
Collaboration agreements with local partners, if applying as part of a consortium or partnership
Applicant contact details
COMPUTE SUB SYSTEM (CSS)
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A pre-configured and verified compute subsystem that performs the non-differentiated steps to reduce time-to-market, engineering efforts, and technical and commercial risks to recipients. Recipient of the one (1) CSS token receives a state-of-the-art CSS intellectual property by Arm with other associated technical and ecosystem support.

Every CSS token has an active life of three (3) years, or thirty-six (36) months from the date of receipt, which shall be decided at the point of approval.

Qualifying Criteria
Technical capability
  • Proven expertise of chip design team for advanced nodes, e.g. 16nm, 7nm, 5nm, 3nm and below.
  • Demonstrated experience of the design team in utilising Arm IPs, including but not limited to, Cortex-A, Cortex-M, Neoverse architecture and others.
  • Verified access to industry-standard Electronic Design Automation (EDA) tools compatible with Arm IP, including but not limited to, Cadence, Synopsys, Mentor Graphics.
  • Compliance with foundry’s Process Design Kit (PDK) standards for relevant technology nodes. Compliance evidence must include certification results from the foundry or equivalent authorised PDK audits.
  • Proven track record of either successful prototype or production-quality chip with advanced nodes below 16nm.
Operational readiness
  • Minimum of 20 qualified design engineers, either in-house or design service provider, specialising in Arm architecture design, verification, and implementation, dedicated for the project from the CSS token awarded.
Commercial
requirements
  • Displayed financial viability of the proposed design and commercialisation strategy.
  • Existing positive cash flow evidence, with audited summary accounts for the past three (3) years, with a positive unqualified opinion from auditors that the business is a going concern in the most recent financial audit period.
  • Submission of comprehensive commercialisation and product roadmap.
Strategic alignment
to national
objectives
  • Local ownership: Applicants with high existing local ownership and domicile in Malaysia shall be preferred over applicants without, though the latter is not excluded automatically.
  • Local-first requirement: Demonstrated search for local semiconductor companies for every part of the supply chain, and cooperating with local semiconductor companies, directly or joint venture with other experienced foreign semiconductor companies, with requisite capabilities for the supply chain in the CSS applied for. Applicants with high local-first compliance shall be preferred.
  • Technology transfer: Evidence of partnerships or joint ventures with local semiconductor companies aimed at knowledge transfer, technical capability enhancement or joint IP development.
  • Training and R&D: Participation in local training and R&D programs, and other capacity-building initiatives, in line with the national objective.
Documents needed for application 
Company profile
  • Background of the applicant(s), including certificate(s) of incorporation and ownership structure
  • Size (number of employees and breakdown of engineers)
  • Financial statements, including revenue and profits, for the past two (3) years, and/or latest fundraising rounds
  • Market reach and share (optional)
Product roadmaps
  • Location at which the main design activity is conducted
  • Key products completed, including project name, CPU core used, foundry, target clock speed, number of gates (approx.), tools used, and manufacturing details
  • Future products, ongoing and planned
  • Commercialisation timelines
  • Local partnership strategy
Strategic and
Commercial proposal
  • Business plan for the next two (2) years  
  • Funding model for the CSS applied 
  • Supply chain map-out for the CSS applied, including relevant partners and their capabilities 
Collaboration agreements with local partners, if applying as part of a consortium or partnership
Applicant contact details