As I can see, electronic design companies are far more undervalued by the media than the software ones. But the fact remains that the market is fairly large and continues to snowball in growth. According to the Grand View Research comprehensive report, the size of the electronic design services, combined with contract manufacturing, has reached almost $400 bln in 2018 and will grow by up to more than $650 bln by 2025.
To overcome this grave injustice, I’ve prepared my research on electronic design companies that are working on a contractual basis. Let me first explain how I selected them.
Trustworthy Electronic Design Services: Selection Criteria
The electronic design services domain is comprised of a relatively large amount of companies from around the globe. But have no illusions: not all of them are trustworthy. That’s why all the companies from the list below:
Have at least ten years of history (the youngest one established in 2009);
Covering a variety of services (instead of extremely specialized companies with a single focus);
Acts as an official partner of at least one semiconductor company from the top 50 or at least one member of the Semiconductor Industry Association.
The list of electronic design companies as follows:
Promwad
Website: https://www.promwad.com/
Location: Vilnius, Lithuania
Founded: 2004
No. of employees: 51 — 200
Services: electronic product design, hardware development, PCB design, FPGA design, embedded software development, automotive electronics development
The Promwad electronics design house was founded in 2004 to create new products for their clients. Since that time, the company has opened new offices in the USA and EU and has successfully finished 300+ projects. The number of devices manufactured under the design they made has surpassed by 3 mln.
Among the noteworthy clients of Promwad is Qoobi B.V., and the device Qoobi ONE, where Promwad took part, received the Red Dot Award in 2019 in the category “Best of the Best.” Among the others are Parrot, Prestigio, Lapka (acquired by Airbnb), and various famous businesses. What’s to the reason why I included it to the listing, Promwad is an official partner of top 50 members NXP, Texas Instruments, STMicroelectronics, Fujitsu, and Analog Devices.
Variscite
Website: https://www.variscite.com/
Location: Lod, Israel
Founded: 2003
No. of employees: 51 — 200
Services: SOM development and manufacturing, board design, OEM manufacturing
The main focus of this Israeli-born company is Systems on Modules design, development, as well as manufacturing. Since 2003, Variscite has passed the 1 mln of shipped SoM devices milestone.
Variscite’s business is mostly product-oriented. That’s why their clients aren’t detailed out. What is clear, is that the company is a key partner of NXP Semiconductors/Freescale with early access to their ARM-based i.MX8 family solutions. And it is a reason why the company won its seat here.
TOPIC Embedded Systems
Website: https://topic.nl/en
Location: Best, Netherlands
Founded: 1996
No. of employees: 51 — 200
Services: embedded software development, hardware development, FPGA development, technical consulting
With more than 20 years of experience, TOPIC is a trusted European embedded solutions developer. The company focuses on FPGA, digital hardware, and embedded software projects. The domain expertise includes healthcare, robotics, aerospace and defense, automotive, transport and logistics, as well as semiconductors industries.
Along with the services, the company has its products. Among these include systems on modules, some ready-made building blocks, as well as operating systems for FPGA and SoC. TOPIC is a premium partner of Xilinx, a chartered member of SIA, which made it possible to enlist the company here.
DesignLinx Hardware Solutions
Website: https://www.designlinxhs.com/
Location: Nashua, New Hampshire, USA
Founded: 2009
No. of employees: 11 — 50
Services: FPGA design, embedded software development, ITAR compliance, board-level design, AWS/AI/ML support
The DesignLinx Hardware Solutions company has a keen focus on FPGA design services, as well as on several other niche ones. The company is veteran-owned, which makes it well adapted to defense business orders.
Defense Logistics Agency is one of the leading partners of the DesignLinx, as well as some other government and private companies. It has been a premier member of the Xilinx Alliance since 2011, as well as an official partner of both Intel and Analog Devices. As you can see, DesignLinx is worthy of being here.
L-CARD
Website: https://en.lcard.ru/
Location: Moscow, Russia
Founded: 1987
No. of employees: 51 — 200
Services: modular DAQ systems, ADC/DAC boards, fuel measuring sensors, R&D outsourcing, OEM manufacturing
The L-CARD company has a rather long history for a Russian one. The official year of establishment is 1987, however, the laboratory was established in 1980 as a part of a state-owned research institute. The main focus is the development and manufacturing of measuring equipment but the design and development services branch is also here.
The electronic equipment designed by L-CARD is used by 3,000+ clients globally. For example, its DAQ system is installed on the Swedish MAX IV synchrotron. The only partnership that meets our criteria is Apple’s MFi licensing program membership as an official developer of iPhone/iPad-compatible devices.
Hectronic
Website: https://hectronic.se/
Location: Uppsala, Sweden
Founded: 1989
No. of employees: 11 — 50
Services: embedded solutions, embedded Systems, COM modules, Qseven, ARM modules, COM express
This Swedish company has more than 30 years of history in embedded product development services. Moreover, it acts as a manufacturer, as well. Hectronic is a part of discoverIE Group PLC, and among their clients are ABB, Saab/Scania, Ericsson, and Atlas Copco.
The industries in which the company has strong expertise include maritime and offshore, transportation, medical, defense, industrial automation, as well as telecommunications. The company wins millions of dollars worth of contracts pretty regularly. Among the official partners are Mitsubishi Electric, AMD, Intel, NXP, and Texas Instruments.
RT-RK
Website: https://www.rt-rk.com/
Location: Novi Sad, Serbia
Founded: 1991
No. of employees: 1001 — 5000
Services: hardware product development, FPGA rapid prototyping, embedded software development, home automation services
RT-RK positions itself not only as a company but as a Serbian national research institute. Not only national but international: it has offices in Bosnia and Croatia, as well. The company has a significant history as the near-shore development partner for Cirrus Logic and Marvell. This is the main reason to call RT-RK trustworthy here.
The company has a rather wide focus, including embedded, TV, automotive, home appliances, DSP, defense, FPGA, and even UX. It constantly participates in major tech exhibitions like CES.
Softeq
Website: https://www.softeq.com/
Location: Houston, Texas, USA
Founded: 1997
No. of employees: 201 — 500
Services: hardware design, embedded systems development, custom software development
Softeq is a full-stack development company in both the hardware and software fields. With that said, the majority of their finished projects are software-related. The list of clients includes Coca-Cola, Nvidia, HP, Epson, and other famous enterprises. For many years, the company works in close partnership with SK Hynix. This fact made it possible to include Softeq in our list.
According to the company website, its key domains are consulting, product development, and digital strategy. What’s mostly covered in the hardware-related industry are consumer electronics. Among the most eye-catching projects is the Hunity curved wrist screen smartphone.