The BrainChip Holdings Ltd (ASX: BRN) share price is avoiding the weakness in the tech sector today.
At the time of writing, the semiconductor company's shares are up 2.5% to 86.5 cents.
This compares favourably to the S&P/ASX All Technology Index which is currently down 1%.
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Why is the BrainChip share price rising?
The BrainChip share price is defying the tech sector weakness on Wednesday thanks to the release of an announcement this morning.
According to the release, the US Patents and Trademarks Office (USPTO) has issued the company with a patent for "An Improved Spiking Neural Network."
The patent, which is known as US 11,468,299, was issued on 11 October by the USPTO. Management believes it is a valuable intellectual property (IP) asset and increases the patent protection around BrainChip's neuromorphic on-chip learning technology.
What exactly is the patent?
The release explains that the patent protects the learning function of BrainChip's digital neuron circuit implemented on a neuromorphic integrated circuit/system. It stated:
The neurons and synapses are implemented efficiently so that a significantly high number of them can be implemented in the most efficient and resource constrained computational environment.
The memory management of membrane potential values, synapse weights and synapse connections amongst the spiking neuron circuits is handled innovatively, contributing significantly to reducing the power and the cost when delivering edge applications to customers.
The patent protects a key learning feature when choosing the synapses for weight variation during on-chip learning. The right combination of factors related to accuracy and efficiency is chosen that delivers valuable results during edge learning.
Following the issue of this patent, BrainChip's portfolio now comprises 10 US and 1 Chinese issued patents. It also has 27 patent applications pending across the globe.
Time will tell if these patents and its technology ever generate meaningful revenue for the $1.4 billion company.
