This week, Altera officially marked its independence from Intel with the raising of its flag at its headquarters in San Jose, California. The company, which remains owned by Intel, will focus on expanding its FPGA (Field Programmable Gate Array) offerings with greater flexibility, while maintaining a strategic partnership with Intel.

In a statement posted on X, Altera expressed its excitement: "Today marks a proud milestone as we officially raise the Altera flag as an independent FPGA company. We are excited to drive the future of innovation with agility and focus, shaping the next era of FPGA technology."

Altera's specialty lies in FPGAs, which are particularly well-suited for adapting to rapidly evolving technological needs, all without the high costs associated with developing Application-Specific Integrated Circuits (ASICs). The company aims to strengthen its presence in established sectors such as automotive, communications, and aerospace, as well as emerging industries like AI, cloud computing, edge technologies, and 6G.

The flexibility of FPGAs makes them ideal for AI applications, offering lower costs for adding new instructions and data formats compared to GPUs and ASICs. Altera's FPGA AI Suite, which integrates with popular frameworks like TensorFlow and PyTorch, allows developers to build optimized solutions that are compatible with industry standards. Additionally, FPGAs can be used to simulate future AI processors before committing to their silicon implementation.

Although Altera is now an independent entity, the company will continue to work closely with Intel Foundry, which will manufacture its chips using competitive production nodes. This collaboration ensures a reliable supply chain while offering Altera the freedom to work with other foundries, broadening its manufacturing options and maintaining competitiveness. Should Altera's strategy succeed, the company may consider an initial public offering (IPO) in the future.

Intel had high hopes when it acquired Altera for $16.7 billion in 2015, aiming to diversify its revenue streams and strengthen its position in the data center market. Now, with Altera operating independently, Intel hopes that its success will not only reinforce its market leadership but also generate additional capital from an eventual IPO.

Altera will be led by CEO Sandra Rivera and COO Shannon Poulin as it moves forward in its new chapter.