A London software company whose AI scheduling system helps semiconductor factories run more efficiently.
Flexciton makes software for the factories that produce computer chips, called wafer fabs. Making a chip involves hundreds of steps on very expensive machines, and deciding what runs where and when is a huge puzzle. Flexciton's system uses mathematical optimisation and artificial intelligence to generate schedules automatically from live factory data. A fab-wide optimiser plans about a day ahead, a local one plans a few hours ahead, and a real-time dispatcher checks every few minutes. The aim is more chips from the same machines, with less waiting and less wasted energy.
The company was founded in London in 2016 by Jamie Potter, who is chief executive, and Dennis Xenos, who both had more than ten years in optimised manufacturing. Potter has said the vision is to become the best in the world at running semiconductor fabs, with other kinds of factory to follow later. A company presentation says it built Flexciton to help fabs radically improve production efficiency to accelerate progress. It also speaks about reducing the energy fabs use as costs rise.
Flexciton is based in London, while its customers are chipmakers around the world. Named customers and partners in a 2022 presentation include Seagate, where it optimised photolithography scheduling, and Renesas, where it scheduled clean and furnace batch tools. It also works with Infineon Supply Chain Innovations, the Technical University of Munich and Imperial College London on a study of fab energy use. The presentation reports results such as 5.3 per cent fewer reticle moves at Seagate and 22 per cent fewer batches at Renesas, which are the company's own figures.
The team is built around mathematics and engineering. An October 2021 report counted 41 people with backgrounds in mathematics, semiconductor scheduling, AI, optimisation, data science and software development, and a 2022 presentation described about 40 engineers and said it was the largest team dedicated to wafer-fab optimisation. Flexciton staff speak at industry events such as the Winter Simulation Conference and have published research papers. It was a finalist for the Semicon West Best of West award. The company does not publish a values statement in the pages we could read.
A company like this employs software engineers who specialise in optimisation and operations research, data scientists, customer implementation managers who set the software up inside a factory, product managers, and sales, marketing and finance staff. It is a good example of a UK business that helps the chip industry without making chips itself, and it suits people who enjoy mathematics, computing or problem solving.
Website: www.flexciton.com
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