Ambarella Inc.

Ambarella Inc.

Type	Public
Traded as	NASDAQ: AMBA
Industry	Semiconductors
Founded	2004
Headquarters	Santa Clara, California, United States
Key people	Feng-Ming (Fermi) Wang (CEO) Les Kohn (CTO) Chan Lee (VP of VLSI) John Ju (VP of Software) Didier LeGall (EVP)
Number of employees	600+ (2016)
Website	www.ambarella.com

Ambarella, Inc. (NASDAQ: AMBA) is a developer of low-power, high-definition (HD) and Ultra HD video compression and image processing products. The company’s products are used in a variety of HD and Ultra HD cameras including security IP-cameras, sports cameras, wearable cameras, flying cameras and automotive video camera recorders. Ambarella compression chips are also used in broadcasting TV programs worldwide.

Ambarella is the recipient of the Global Semiconductor Alliance (GSA) 2010, 2011, and 2012 award for "Most Respected Private Semiconductor Company". Ambarella became a public company in 2012 and has since received the GSA 2013 award for "Favorite Analyst Semiconductor Company" as well as the GSA 2014 award for "Most Respected Emerging Public Semiconductor Company”.^[1]

The CEO, Feng-Ming (Fermi) Wang, has received a Glassdoor rating of 100%. The company itself has a Glassdoor rating of 4.1 stars out of 5.^[2]

History

Founded in 2004, Ambarella started with professional high definition H.264 video encoders for the broadcast market. In 2006, Ambarella applied this technology to consumer video cameras and later to the security IP camera market.

Ambarella has been a market leader for video broadcasting, consumer video cameras and also security IP cameras, powering GoPro cameras with HD video (1080p)^[3] and now Google wearables.^[4]

The main driver for Ambarella's business is the security and surveillance market. IP security cameras constitute 45 percent of its business, and that segment is growing 25 percent year-over-year. Automotive after-market cameras (dash cameras) and flying cameras (cameras on UAVs) are other key growth markets for Ambarella's video chips.^[5]

Products

Ambarella produces system-on-chip (SoC) video chips. In January 2015, it released its latest integrated SoC. Fermi Wang, President and CEO of Ambarella, explained, “The adoption of 4K Ultra HD video has been accelerating across consumer electronics markets,” said “The Ambarella H1 will enable a new generation of sports and flying cameras with high frame rate Ultra HD video, bringing professional-quality film making to the consumer.”^[6]

Ambarella also produces an A12W ultra-low-power HD camera (SoC) which can encode a full HD video stream and a second HD stream for dual-lens cameras. It also features Electronic Image Stabilization (EIS) for stable video recording during motion. The A12W supports long battery life requirements of wearable security cameras.^[7]

Timeline ^[8]

2004	Ambarella founded
2005	A1 introduced, a single-chip 1080i60 H.264 broadcast-class encoder
2006	First Ambarella-enabled consumer-level HD video cameras in mass production
2007	A2 introduced and chosen by consumer electronics brands
2008	A3 introduced, a single-chip 1080p60 H.264 broadcast-class encoder
2009	A5 introduced, a 65-nm video and still picture camera chip A6 broadcast HD encoder and transcoder introduced
2010	A5s introduced, Ambarella’s first 45-nm chip A7 introduced, a 45-nm 1080p60 HD camera chip
2011	iOne introduced, a camera applications processor for Android-based smart camera-centric devices A7L introduced, Ambarella's first 32-nm 1080p60 camera SoC
2012	S2 introduced, an Ultra HD 4K encoder chip targeting the IP camera market
2013	A9 introduced, an Ultra HD 4K camera SoC A7LA introduced, an automotive camera SoC
2014	MotorVu™ 360 introduced, a 4-channel automotive camera solution S2L introduced, a 28-nm 1080p120 IP camera chip S3 introduced, an Ultra HD 4Kp30 H.265/HEVC and 4Kp60 H.264/AVC IP Camera SoC
2015	A12W introduced, a 28-nm wearable camera SoC H1 introduced, an Ultra 4Kp60 H.264/AVC and 4Kp30 H.265/HEVC sports and flying camera SoC A12S and A9SE are introduced, 28-nm SoCs for flying cameras The S3L family is announced: H.265/HEVC and H.264/AVC 28-nm SoCs targeting professional and consumer IP camera applications
2016	H2 introduced, a 14nm Ultra HD 4Kp120 H.264/AVC and 4Kp60 HEVC sports and flying camera SoC H12 introduced, a 4K Ultra HD SoC family supporting H.265/HEVC and H.264/AVC encoding targeting consumer applications S5 introduced, a 14nm Ultra HD SoC capable of 4Kp120 H.264/AVC and 4Kp60 H.265/HEVC targeting professional IP camera applications

SoC Comparison

SoC	Release	Node	Encoding
A1	2005	-	1080i60 H.264
A2	2007	-	1080i60 H.264
A3	2008	-	1080i60 (A350) H.264 1080p60 (A380) H.264
A5	2009	65nm	720p60, 1080p30 (A530) H.264 720p60, 1080p30, 1080i60 (A550) H.264 5.3Mp60, 1080p60 (A570) H.264
A6		-	1080p60 H.264
A5s	2010	45nm	1080p30 + VGAp30 H.264
A7		45nm	2160p15, 1440p30, 1080p60, 720p120 H.264
iOne	2011	-	720p60, 1080p30, 1080i60 H.264
A7L		32nm	1080p60 H.264
S2	2012	32nm	2160p30, 1080p120,H.264
A9	2013	32nm	2160p30, 1440p60, 1080p120, 720p240 H.264
A7LA		32nm	3Mp30, 1080p30 H.264
MotorVu 360	2014	32nm	4x 1080p30 H.264
S2L		28nm	1080p60 H.264
S3		28nm	2160p60 H.264 2160p30 H.265
A12W	2015	28nm	1440p15, 1080p60 H.264
H1		28nm	3Mp30, 1080p30 H.264
A12S		28nm	2160p60, 1440p120, 1080p240 H.264 2160p30, 1440p60, 1080p120 H.265
S3L		28nm	5Mp30 H.264 & H.265
H2	2016	14nm	2160p120, 4320p30 H.264 2160p60 H.265 (10-bit)
H12		28nm	2160p30 H.264 & H.265
S5		14nm	2160p120, 4320p30 H.264 2160p60 H.265 (10-bit)

References

1. http://www.ambarella.com/uploads/docs/company-fact-sheet.pdf
2. "Ambarella Reviews". Glassdoor.
3. Klug, Brian (2013-01-13). "Ambarella announces A9 camera". Anandtech. Retrieved 6 March 2014.
4. Santos, Alexis (2014-01-09). "Wearable Google Helpouts streaming camera shares GoPro heritage". Engadget. Retrieved 6 March 2014.
5. http://www.cnbc.com/id/101810846
6. "Ambarella H1 Camera SoC Doubles Ultra HD Frame Rate for Sports and Flying Cameras". Yahoo Finance. 6 January 2015.
7. "Ambarella A12W Reference Design Kit Enables New Generation of Wearable Police and Security Cameras". Yahoo Finance. 6 January 2015.
8. "The Ambarella Story".

External links

• Official website