etched.ai has turn into the latest startup to ride the wave of investor enthusiasm for AI chips.
The San Francisco-based startup closed a $120 million led round Positive sum AND Main partners of the project.
The startup is the creator of the Sohu AI system specialized in the transformer, used for training and implementing large language models constituting the basis of generative artificial intelligence.
Etched announced a collaboration with A Taiwanese semiconductor company produce a chip that might be a direct competitor to the chip giant Nvidia — which dominates the AI market.
However, AI’s high power consumption stays a problem, and Etched believes it will probably deliver a cheaper and energy-efficient chip that is faster.
Semi-explosion
Etched is the latest chip startup poised to boost large amounts of cash. Semiconductor chip enterprise funding appears to be on track to rebound this yr after a forgettable 2023. So far in 2024, VC-backed chip startups have raised nearly $5.3 billion in just 175 transactions, in line with Crunchbase data.
Last yr, startups made lower than $8.8 billion in 490 deals. In 2022, chip startups closed nearly $10.9 billion in 447 deals.
Some big deals in 2024 include:
Like last time, more big rounds could follow reported smartphone manufacturer SAMSUNG is leading a round of at least $300 million for a Toronto-based AI chip startup Tensorrent.