QuickLogic Enters Defense Market with Rad-Hard FPGA Orders

SAN JOSE, CA – January 14, 2026 – QuickLogic Corporation today announced it has received its first orders for a new Strategic Radiation Hardened (SRH) FPGA Development Kit, marking a significant entry into the critical aerospace and defense electronics sector. The kits, which feature test chips built on GlobalFoundries' 12nm process technology, are slated for delivery to key Defense Industrial Base customers in late Q1 2026.

The move validates the company's recent investment in developing specialized components capable of withstanding the harsh environments of space and advanced military applications. These initial orders serve as a crucial foothold in a market where reliability and performance are paramount.

"We are excited to announce receipt of the first orders for our SRH FPGA Dev Kit," said Brian Faith, President and CEO of QuickLogic, in today's press release. "The SRH FPGA test chip included in these kits was designed to meet the requirements of certain large Defense Industrial Base customers that have programs in development today. With this investment we are not only optimizing our chances of winning designs for discrete SRH FPGAs but also demonstrating our capability for designs that will require embedded SRH FPGA technology in ASIC designs."

The High-Stakes World of Rad-Hard Electronics

Modern defense and space systems, from low-Earth orbit (LEO) satellite constellations to missile guidance systems and deep space probes, operate in environments saturated with ionizing radiation. This radiation can wreak havoc on standard commercial-grade electronics, causing a range of issues from temporary data corruption, known as Single-Event Upsets (SEUs), to permanent hardware failure through effects like Total Ionizing Dose (TID) accumulation or catastrophic Single-Event Latch-up (SEL).

To ensure mission success, these systems rely on 'radiation-hardened' components. These are semiconductors meticulously designed and manufactured to resist radiation damage and maintain functionality. Field-Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs) are particularly valuable in this domain. Their inherent reconfigurability allows engineers to update hardware logic, fix bugs, or adapt to new mission parameters long after a satellite or vehicle has been deployed. However, the complex architecture that makes FPGAs flexible also makes them highly susceptible to radiation-induced errors.

Developing a radiation-hardened FPGA is therefore a significant technical challenge, requiring a deep understanding of semiconductor physics and specialized design techniques. For decades, this niche market has been dominated by a handful of established players, making QuickLogic's entry a notable development.

A Modern Approach to Extreme Reliability

QuickLogic's strategy distinguishes itself through its technological foundation. The company's SRH FPGA test chips are fabricated on GlobalFoundries' 12nm FinFET process, a relatively modern and high-performance commercial manufacturing node. This approach contrasts with some traditional rad-hard components built on older, more robust, but less performant process technologies.

Instead of relying solely on an inherently robust process, QuickLogic heavily employs Radiation Hardening by Design (RHBD) techniques. This methodology involves building resiliency directly into the chip's architecture. Techniques like Triple Modular Redundancy (TMR), where logic is triplicated and a voting circuit selects the correct output, along with specialized memory error correction and careful physical layout, are used to mitigate the effects of radiation strikes. This allows the company to leverage the performance, power efficiency, and density advantages of a modern process node while achieving the necessary reliability.

The partnership with GlobalFoundries, a U.S.-based foundry with a strong footprint in the defense sector, also provides a secure and trusted supply chain. This is a critical consideration for Defense Industrial Base customers and government agencies focused on shoring up domestic microelectronics manufacturing capabilities.

Targeting a Lucrative and Demanding Market

By securing these initial orders, QuickLogic is positioning itself to compete for contracts within some of the most advanced U.S. defense and space programs. The customer base includes major defense contractors like Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, and Raytheon, who are constantly seeking advanced electronics for next-generation systems. Potential applications are vast, ranging from on-board processing for the Space Development Agency's Proliferated Warfighter Space Architecture—a massive constellation of military satellites—to guidance systems in hypersonic missiles and advanced electronic warfare platforms.

The competitive landscape is formidable. Microchip Technology, through its acquisition of Microsemi, is a long-standing leader with its RTG4 and RTAX families of rad-hard FPGAs, which have extensive flight heritage. High-performance giants AMD (formerly Xilinx) and Intel also serve this market with 'radiation-tolerant' versions of their commercial FPGAs, which pair high-end processing power with extensive mitigation strategies. QuickLogic aims to carve its niche by offering a balance of modern performance and dedicated radiation-hardening, backed by a flexible business model.

Beyond Discrete Chips: The Future is Embedded

Perhaps the most forward-looking aspect of QuickLogic's strategy, as hinted at by CEO Brian Faith, is its focus on embedded SRH FPGA technology. In addition to selling discrete, standalone FPGA chips, the company plans to license its radiation-hardened FPGA fabric as intellectual property (IP) that can be integrated directly into a larger Application-Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC) or System-on-Chip (SoC).

This eFPGA approach offers profound advantages for defense contractors developing their own custom chips. Integrating the reconfigurable logic directly onto the same piece of silicon as the main processor and other functions drastically reduces size, weight, and power (SWaP)—a critical metric in any aerospace application. It also eliminates the performance bottlenecks associated with off-chip communication, enabling faster and more efficient processing.

More importantly, it gives ASIC designers the best of both worlds: the optimized performance of a custom-designed chip and the post-deployment flexibility of an FPGA. An SRH eFPGA block within a rad-hard ASIC could allow for in-orbit algorithm updates for an intelligence-gathering satellite, modifications to a communication protocol, or critical bug fixes on a multi-decade deep space mission. This capability extends the operational life and value of incredibly expensive, mission-critical hardware, making it a compelling proposition for the defense and space industries.