KUALA LUMPUR (March 31): Oppstar Bhd (KL:OPPSTAR) said on Tuesday it has secured a chip design contract worth nearly RM12 million from an unidentified Japanese client.

A statement of work — legally binding document outlining the project’s scope, deliverables, timelines, and costs — to develop a reconfigurable artificial intelligence (AI) chip solution has been signed with a Yokohama-based technology venture and Silicon X Sdn Bhd.

“The board believes that the collaboration will provide Oppstar with a new revenue source while allowing the group to expand its technical footprint in the high-growth edge AI market and establish a long term recurring income stream through a volume-based licensing model,” the company said.

Fees will be paid on a milestone completion basis and the contract is expected to be fulfilled within 20 months.

Oppstar will oversee the full spectrum of chip design and physical implementation, including architecture optimisation and delivery of the final tape-out database. Silicon X, meanwhile, is responsible for providing the background intellectual property and the software development and enablement required for the field-programmable gate array solution.

“The collaboration will be utilising a silicon-proven architecture from Silicon X combined with the Oppstar’s advanced design methodologies,” the company said in its bourse filing.

Silicon X will be separately paid by the Japanese client, according to a spokesperson from Oppstar.

The client specialises in edge AI solutions, developing proprietary hardware and software tools that enable complex models to run directly on devices for real-time processing in sectors such as infrastructure and industrial automation.

Shares of Oppstar closed up three sen or 16.2% at 21.5 sen on Tuesday, valuing the company at RM137.9 million ahead of the contract announcement.