AI chip startup Etched hits $10.3B valuation with backing from top investors
Founded by Harvard dropouts, the company is revolutionizing transformer-specific AI hardware.
1Young entrepreneurs' major breakthrough
Etched, an AI chip startup founded by three Harvard dropouts in 2022, has achieved a $10.3 billion valuation in its Series C round. Backed by Sequoia and Andreessen Horowitz, the company now holds one of the highest valuations ever for a Series C startup in this sector, marking a significant milestone in specialized AI hardware development.
2Pioneering transformer technology
Etched develops chips specifically optimized for transformer architecture - the foundation of modern AI systems like ChatGPT. Initially considered unconventional, their approach has demonstrated remarkable performance gains. Notably, Google is reportedly working on similar chip specialization for its Gemini AI system.
3$1B in pre-orders secured
Before mass production even began, Etched secured $1 billion in orders for its complete AI systems currently being tested by clients. The company's hardware supports not just specific LLMs but diverse architectures including Mixture of Experts models and non-transformer designs like Mamba.
4Breakthrough low-voltage chip design
Etched engineered two novel components to accelerate AI inference: specialized 'prefill' and 'decode' chips. The prefill chip operates at significantly lower voltage, reducing heat generation while accommodating more transistors. For decoding, the company developed high-speed 'cluster scale memory' technology enabling efficient multi-chip connectivity.
5Endorsement from AI luminaries
Etched gained credibility through private demos to industry leaders including Anthropic's Andrej Karpathy and AI pioneer Geoffrey Hinton. These early validations helped attract top-tier investors convinced by hands-on testing of the hardware's capabilities.
6From garage to global impact
What began with founders sleeping on floors and running servers from an employee's garage has grown into a 400-person company with a 2MW data center. Etched's journey exemplifies how technical vision combined with perseverance can disrupt even the most challenging hardware sectors.
Original article: TechCrunch — Etched, yapay zeka çipleriyle 10.3 milyar dolar değerlemeye ulaştı