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Altera

Altera, Intel's FPGA division, is a leading manufacturer of field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), CPLDs, and SoC FPGAs, offering the Agilex, Stratix, Arria, Cyclone, and MAX product families.

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Altera, originally founded in 1983 and acquired by Intel in 2015, is a premier manufacturer of programmable logic devices (PLDs) and field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs). As Intel's FPGA division, Altera continues to drive innovation in reconfigurable computing from edge to cloud applications.

Altera's comprehensive FPGA portfolio includes:

  • Agilex Series: Latest generation high-performance FPGAs and SoC FPGAs
  • Stratix Series: High-end FPGAs for demanding applications
  • Arria Series: Mid-range FPGAs balancing performance and cost
  • Cyclone Series: Cost-effective FPGAs for volume applications
  • MAX Series: Non-volatile FPGAs and CPLDs

The majority of Altera's FPGA devices are available as SoC variants integrating ARM hard processor systems with FPGA fabric on a single chip. All devices are supported by the Quartus Prime design software, providing a unified multi-platform development environment with comprehensive tools for FPGA, SoC FPGA, and CPLD design, simulation, and deployment.

Frequently Asked Questions

What FPGA product families does Altera offer?
Altera offers Agilex (latest generation), Stratix (high-end), Arria (mid-range), Cyclone (cost-effective), and MAX (non-volatile FPGA/CPLD) product families.
What is an Altera SoC FPGA?
Altera SoC FPGAs integrate an ARM hard processor system with FPGA fabric on a single chip, such as the Agilex 3 SoC featuring dual-core ARM Cortex-A55 processors.
What software is used to program Altera FPGAs?
Altera FPGAs are programmed using Quartus Prime design software, a multi-platform development environment supporting FPGA, SoC FPGA, and CPLD design.
Is Altera part of Intel?
Altera was acquired by Intel in 2015 and operates as Intel's FPGA division, with products often referred to as Intel FPGAs or Altera FPGAs.