Big news has recently come from the field of AI chips! The startup Etched.ai successfully raised US$120 million in financing with its AI chip Sohu designed for large-scale language model training and deployment, led by Positive Sum and Primary Venture Partners. This move marks that the competition for AI chips has entered a fierce stage, and Etched.ai will compete head-on with giants such as Nvidia. Sohu chips are manufactured by TSMC and aim to provide more cost-effective and energy-efficient solutions to solve the problem of high energy consumption of AI.
AI chip startup Etched.ai recently received $120 million in investment. The company developed Sohu, a transformer-specific AI chip specifically designed for training and deploying large language models.
These language models are the basis of generative artificial intelligence. The financing for the San Francisco-based startup was led by Positive Sum and Primary Venture Partners.
Etched.ai also announced a partnership with Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company to produce the chip, which will directly compete with chip giant Nvidia, which dominates the AI market. At the same time, the problem of large energy consumption of AI still exists, and Etched.ai believes it can provide more cost-effective and energy-efficient chips that are faster.
Etched is just the latest chip startup to raise huge funding. After a forgettable 2023, venture capital investment in semiconductor chips appears to be rebounding this year. Venture capital-backed chip startups have raised nearly $5.3 billion in just 175 deals so far in 2024, according to Crunchbase data.
Last year, startups generated just under $8.8 billion in revenue from 490 deals. In 2022, chip startups locked up nearly $10.9 billion across 447 deals.
Highlights:
⭐ Etched.ai received US$120 million in investment and developed Sohu, a transformer-specific AI chip specifically designed for training and deploying large language models.
⭐ Chips produced in cooperation with TSMC will directly compete with chip giant Nvidia, which dominates the AI market.
⭐ The financing craze for AI chip startups continues to heat up. In 2024, VC-backed chip startups have raised nearly US$5.3 billion in 175 transactions.
Etched.ai's successful financing and cooperation with TSMC indicate that competition in the field of AI chips will become more intense and provide a strong impetus for the continued development of AI technology. This huge investment will accelerate the research and development and marketing of Sohu chips, and it is worth looking forward to its future market performance.