AI chip startup Rivos pursues $500M funding round to design GPUs, challenge Nvidia: report

[High Performance GPU Processor Chip on Futuristic Circuit Board]
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Rivos, an artificial intelligence-focused semiconductor startup backed by Intel (NASDAQ:INTC [https://seekingalpha.com/symbol/INTC]) CEO Lip-Bu Tan, is currently seeking up to $500M in a funding round to help it compete against chip champion Nvidia (NASDAQ:NVDA [https://seekingalpha.com/symbol/NVDA]), according to _The Information_.

If successful, Rivos' total funding since its founding in 2021 would reach nearly $900M and give it a valuation of more than $2B, the report [https://www.theinformation.com/articles/chip-startup-rivos-seeks-500-million-compete-nvidia] said. Although the company has not yet mass produced a chip, it hopes to do so by 2026, and possibly grab a portion of Nvidia's market share, according to sources familiar with the company. Earlier this year, the company delivered a prototype to Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing (TSM [https://seekingalpha.com/symbol/TSM]) for trial production.

The Santa Clara, California-based startup is focused on designing graphics processing units for inference. Inferencing runs already trained AI models. It is expected to account for 60% to 70% of all AI workloads by 2030. It is attempting to build "power-efficient, high performance, secure server solutions based on RISC-V."

Tan is a significant investor in Rivos and the founding chairman of the company.

Rivos completed a $250M [https://seekingalpha.com/news/4090039-startup-rivos-raises-250m-to-developer-cheaper-ai-chips-report] fundraising round last year.

"We can target potentially smaller installations where Nvidia might seem like an overkill from a cost perspective," said Rivos co-founder and CEO Puneet Kumar at the time.

Kumar previously worked for a chip design firm acquired by Apple (AAPL [https://seekingalpha.com/symbol/AAPL]). When he left to found Rivos in 2021, the startup was sued by Apple for theft of trade secrets. However, Rivos countersued, claiming Apple illegally intimidates employees. The two companies settled in early 2024.

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