The EE Times Silicon 100 for 2022 is a historical, curated directory of electronics and semiconductor startups—not a current ranking, investment recommendation, or guarantee that a listed company remains active. EE Times said curator Peter Clarke selected a weighted mix of new entrants, familiar names, and fast-growing companies across 21 technology areas. The edition is useful as a snapshot of where startup activity was appearing across the semiconductor value chain in 2022.
What the 2022 Silicon 100 is—and what it is not
EE Times described the 2022 edition as its 22nd Silicon 100. Its framing connects capital investment with technological innovation and raises questions about AI, optical processors, green chips, quantum computing, and where startup activity is concentrated. The publication’s own prompt was, “Did your favorite startup make the cut?” (EE Times’ 2022 announcement; the digital edition listing).
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That framing makes the list a curated cohort, not a scored league table. EE Times says the selection was weighted, but the accessible edition and announcement text do not provide comparable company-level scores or establish investment performance. A place on the list therefore should not be read as proof that a company was the best in its category, a safe investment, or commercially successful.
It is also a record of the 2022 landscape. Inclusion does not establish a company’s present-day startup status, product, ownership, or commercial position. Check current company and investment information independently before relying on it.
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How the list spans the semiconductor value chain
The edition groups entries into 21 technology areas, ranging from the materials and equipment used to make chips to processors, applications, and security. This breadth is its most useful organizing feature: the companies were not all competing in one market or solving the same kind of problem.
| Part of the value chain | EE Times technology areas |
|---|---|
| Materials and production | Materials and packaging; chip manufacturing equipment; photovoltaics; energy harvesting; power, GaN and SiC; foundry |
| Design and core components | EDA, IP and design services; analog, mixed-signal and PMIC; memory and storage |
| Sensing, connectivity and interfaces | Medical; MEMS, sensors, actuators and haptics; optoelectronics and image sensors; display devices, displays and drivers; RF and IoT; 5G and higher RF; radar, LiDAR and ADAS; audio and visual processing |
| Computing and protection | General-purpose processors, MCUs, networking and FPGAs; GPU-to-AI; quantum computing; security |
The edition also featured the China Fabless 100. Its categories and coverage suggest a way to explore the ecosystem by technology or stage of the value chain, rather than treating “semiconductor startup” as a single business model. The category list and China Fabless 100 feature are described in the EE Times edition listing.
What the 2022 cohort figures say
EE Times Europe reported that 69 companies were retained from the previous Silicon 100 and 31 startups were recruited for the 2022 list. It also reported 18 European startups represented. These figures describe the cohort as reported in 2022, not company survival, later growth, or current geographic distribution. See EE Times Europe’s coverage of European startups in the 2022 list.
The same article describes the European companies as spanning AI, RISC-V processors, energy harvesting, IoT, MEMS and sensors, neuromorphic and quantum computing, and GaN-based power devices. Those are areas represented, not a complete company-by-company inventory.
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1Clear out junk files and repair common Windows errors2Scan for outdated or missing drivers - takes under a minute3Repair Windows errors before they cause bigger problemsOn geography, Silicon 100 curator Peter Clarke said: “Europe’s 18 companies include a jump in Germany, which now hosts three Silicon 100 startups, on par with France. Meanwhile, the usually fertile Republic of Ireland has lost its previous Silicon 100 players.” This is Clarke’s analysis as quoted by EE Times Europe, rather than an independently verified census.
How to use the list as a business or investment reader
Use the directory as a starting point for historical market mapping: it can help identify the kinds of technologies attracting editorial attention in 2022 and the breadth of activity across the chip ecosystem. It cannot, on its own, answer whether a company is operating now, whether its technology reached production, or whether an investment thesis paid off.
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- For a company check: confirm the name and inclusion in the original edition before citing it. The accessible text of the official product page and announcement does not expose the full 100-company roster in readable form, so a complete list should not be reconstructed from partial mentions.
- For a comparison: compare companies on like-for-like evidence: technology category, intended application, geography, development or commercial maturity, and dated funding or customer information. The Silicon 100 itself does not supply comparable company scores.
- For an investment decision: treat editorial inclusion as context, not due diligence. Seek current, independently sourced evidence about operations, products, customers, financing, risks, and valuation.
Where to find the original edition
EE Times lists the 2022 edition as a digital-format item under Books at $0.00. That listing supports using the original edition as the source for the historical snapshot; it does not establish availability of a print copy or of a complete roster in the accessible page text. See EE Times’ edition page.
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