Exciting news from Silicon Valley: Emerging chip developer Rivos Inc. has raised a whopping $250 million in funding before the release of its first product. This eye-popping figure showcases an increased market demand for advanced hardware for AI applications.
As a bold startup, Rivos Inc. is in the business of meeting this market demand. How? It designs and produces high-performance chips that save power and are specifically tailored for AI operations. Securing this much investment before launching its first product emphasizes Rivos Inc.’s impressive potential and credibility.
The sizable investment is set to fast-track the R&D process and empower Rivos Inc. to impact the AI hardware landscape significantly.
Pre-launch funding boost for Rivos AI chips
Moreover, such substantial funding is a testament to the widening market for specialized high-performance chips and the importance of AI hardware optimization.
Investors from Matrix Capital Management, Intel Capital, and MediaTek Inc., a Taiwan-based chip design company, put their faith in Rivos Inc. As such, this new backing will benefit Rivos Inc. and extend to the broader AI industry through technological innovation and competitive advancements that could reshape AI development.
In contrast with companies like Nvidia Corp, which offer expensive chips, Rivos targets clients using data analytics and generative AI. This represents a rapidly growing market, accelerated by the popularity of ChatGPT.
Rivos’ upcoming product, based on the open-standard RISC-V, could potentially compete with Arm Holdings Plc. Puneet Kumar, the co-founder and CEO, is keeping additional details about the chip design, expected launch date, and valuation close to his chest.
The new funding will be used to expedite chip manufacturing using Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co.’s advanced 3NE process technology. Already a favorite for mass production, the technology has backing from return Rivos investors like VentureTech Alliance (a TSMC strategic partner), Walden Catalyst, Dell Technologies Capital, and Koch Disruptive Technologies.
Last, Lip-Bu Tan, Rivos’ founding chair and past CEO of Cadence Design Systems Inc., highlighted how RISC-V can revolutionize data analytics and generative AI applications. Given Tan’s track record with successful chip startups, there is every reason to believe in Rivos Inc.’s potential in this burgeoning field.
