The name fits. Efficient Computer and its cadre of PhDs from Carnegie Mellon University have set their mission around development of energy efficient computing systems. The company invented the E1 processor and Fabric processor architecture, and just announced the launch of a new web-based effcc Compiler Playground for transporting software from familiar programming languages to Fabric.
Using the Efficient approach, developers can unlock energy efficiency gains of up to 100 times when compared to other low-power CPUs on the market, according to co-founder and CEO Brandon Lucia. With the compiler, developers will be able to get a first look of their applications on Fabric, which he argued is the most energy efficient general purpose dataflow architecture around.
The E1 embedded processor was named a 2025 honoree for computer hardware at the 2025 CES Innovation Awards. Last August, Efficient announced a strategic partnership with GlobalFoundries, working on a high-performance, energy efficient processor.
Efficient has several lead customers for early access to the silicon which will be delivered in mid-2025, Lucia said. Low-power CPUs are considered the gold standard for edge devices that need to preserve battery life. Lucia said the E1 is designed for low-energy infrastructure intelligence from data on sensors on water and gas pipelines or power lines and industrial sites with moving infrastructure. “If you need data collection, we sell battery life,” he said.
The compiler is designed to visualize a developer’s program execution, showing how operations are distributed across Fabric with a detailed look at how C code will function on the E1 processor. Lucia said a developer would need just five minutes to start working with the compiler and get results. A sign-up is online.
“Today’s CPUs are incredibly inefficient,” Lucia said in an interview with Fierce. “We are fully general purpose and programmable.” With investor support of $16 million in 2023, the company of 30 people is “full throttle and full steam ahead…We have big plans for where we go.”
As a spinout from Carnegie Mellon three years ago, Lucia said the current startup ecosystem is “thriving and the funding environment is strong.” The reason for that is “the world is responding to big disruption and how are people doing in computing. AI is taking over and the world is dramatically changing.”
Lucia said under the new Trump administration he hopes the scientific community continues to be supported through the National Science Foundation, which provided research grants to Carnegie Mellon that helped Efficient get underway. Lucia is a professor of electrical and computer engineering there.