Socle is already one of several qualified Chartered design services partners. The investment will be used to support future growth and expansion by Socle, according to Singaporean foundry provider Chartered.

The pure-play foundries themselves provide limited design service offerings, but they have alliances with third-party firms.

''Socle has developed a strong expertise in helping customers develop complex SoC designs, and its embedded platforms are production-proven,'' said Kay Chai Ang, senior vice president of worldwide sales and marketing for Chartered, in a statement.

Financial terms of the investment were not announced.