FPGA chip company Altera has unveiled its latest hardware offering, Agilex 3, specifically designed for low-power applications.

Announced at Embedded World in Nuremberg, Germany, the company said the new programmable solutions meet the stringent power, performance, and size requirements of embedded and intelligent Edge applications.

FPGA, or field-programmable gate array, chips consist of logic blocks that can be configured by the customer on the spot to accelerate specific workloads. These programmable chips can then sit alongside microprocessors to make hardware that is faster and more open to a software-defined approach.

According to Altera, the Agilex 3 FPGAs bring high-performance capabilities to low-power applications, delivering up to 1.9x higher fabric performance at up to 38 percent lower power, when compared to the previous generation of Agilex.

Consisting of built-in AI Tensor blocks and embedded processors that sit alongside high-performance programmable architecture, Altera says the new offering allows businesses to “rapidly modernize their Edge and embedded infrastructure by deploying customized AI solutions that deliver the low latency, energy efficiency and agility needed for system longevity.”

“With today’s announcements, we continue to expand our leadership programmable portfolio by offering an even broader range of end-to-end solutions built on decades of expertise and a strong ecosystem of partners,” said Sandra Rivera, Altera CEO. “With our latest FPGA products and development tools, we provide embedded developers a seamless approach to deliver high-performing and high-quality intelligent Edge solutions for the era of AI.”

Acquired by Intel in 2015 for $16.7 billion, Altera merged into Intel’s data center unit under the Programmable Solutions Group (PSG) brand. However, in 2024, Intel announced it was relaunching Altera as a standalone FPGA business, with the company formally announcing its independence in January 2025.

Customers are able to place orders for production-quality Agilex 3 devices, development kits, selected partner boards, and system-on-modules from today.

Agilex 5 E-Series now in production, announces software and ecosystem support

In addition to unveiling the Agilex 3, Altera also announced that the first wave of its Agilex 5 E-Series devices were now ready for high-volume production. Optimized for power-sensitive applications that require high performance with smaller form factors and logic densities, Altera says that when compared to the D-Series, Agilex 5 E-Series FPGAs offer “improved computing capabilities for intelligent Edge applications, including video, industrial, robotics, and medical systems.”

Altera has also expanded its MAX 10 FPGA family to include new package options, with the MAX 10 10M40 and 10M50 now available in variable pitch BGA (ball grid array) packages, allowing for easier signal routing and reducing form factor while maintaining a high IO counts. Altera said customers can now place orders for engineering samples of MAX 10 FPGAs in the VPBGA-610 package, with production silicon due to be available in Q3 2025.

Finally, the company announced updated support for its Agilex 3, Agilex 5 E-Series, and MAX 10 FPGAs via a no-cost Quartus software license, with AI developers able to access support for Agilex 3 and Agilex 5 FPGA AI inference development via the 25.1 version of Altera’s FPGA AI Suite.