Which AI chip companies got investment?

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The AI chip investment landscape has exploded in 2024-2025, driven by unprecedented demand for specialized AI hardware and massive venture capital inflows.

Understanding which companies secured funding, how much they raised, and what technologies they're developing is crucial for anyone looking to enter this rapidly evolving market as an entrepreneur or investor.

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Which AI chip companies raised funding in 2024 and 2025 so far?

AI startups captured a record 46.4% of the total $209 billion raised in the U.S. in 2024, with global AI venture funding exceeding $100 billion—an increase of over 80% from $55.6 billion in 2023.

Tenstorrent led the pure-play AI chip funding with a massive $693 million Series D round in December 2024, led by Samsung Securities and AFW Partners, with participation from Jeff Bezos' Bezos Expeditions, Hyundai Motor Group, and LG Electronics. Groq secured $640 million in Series D funding led by BlackRock at a $2.8 billion valuation, while Enfabrica raised $115 million Series C led by Spark Capital.

In 2025, Chinese AI chip company Biren Technology raised approximately $207 million (1.5 billion yuan) in fresh funding led primarily by state-linked investors from Guangdong province and Shanghai government. Multiple U.S. AI companies have already raised $100 million or more in 2025, including OpenAI's record-breaking $40 billion round, SandboxAQ's $450 million Series E, and Runway's $308 million Series D.

Notable emerging companies include Etched.ai with $120 million Series A for specialized transformer chips, Physical Intelligence with over $2 billion valuation for robot foundational software, and EnCharge AI's $100 million Series B for analog in-memory computing solutions.

How much total investment has gone into AI chip startups globally during this period?

Global venture capital investment in AI companies exceeded $100 billion in 2024, representing an increase of over 80% from $55.6 billion in 2023, with nearly 33% of all global venture funding directed to AI companies.

U.S. chip startups specifically saw nearly $3 billion in funding in 2024, representing a 123% jump from 2023's $1.3 billion. This was the best performance for U.S.-based chip startups since 2021's record year of $3.2 billion. Semiconductor and AI hardware companies captured $3 billion across 75 companies in Q4 2024 alone.

In Q1 2025, AI-related companies garnered $5.7 billion out of $26 billion in total global venture funding, accounting for 22% of all investment. Generative AI specifically reached approximately $45 billion in global venture capital funding in 2024, nearly doubling from $24 billion in 2023.

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Which AI chip company received the largest single funding round, and how much was it?

Tenstorrent's $693 million Series D round in December 2024 represents the largest single funding round for a pure-play AI chip company during this period, valuing the company at $2.6 billion.

The round was oversubscribed due to strong investor demand, led by Samsung Securities and AFW Partners, with notable participation from Jeff Bezos' Bezos Expeditions, Hyundai Motor Group, LG Electronics, and Fidelity. CEO Jim Keller noted that "We didn't set out to raise this much money, but we realized there was a lot of demand."

While broader AI companies raised larger rounds—such as Databricks' $10 billion at a $62 billion valuation—Tenstorrent's round stands out as the largest for a company focused specifically on AI chip hardware and IP. Groq's $640 million Series D led by BlackRock was the second-largest pure AI chip round.

The funding will support Tenstorrent's engineering team expansion and development of AI training servers to showcase the company's open-source technology approach, which differentiates it from NVIDIA's proprietary ecosystem.

Who are the main venture capital firms and corporate investors backing these AI chip startups?

The AI chip investment landscape features a mix of traditional venture capital firms, strategic corporate investors, and sovereign wealth funds making substantial bets on specialized AI hardware.

Which AI chip companies are being backed by major tech giants like NVIDIA, Intel, Microsoft, or Amazon?

Major tech giants are strategically investing in AI chip startups to secure their technology stacks and maintain competitive advantages in the AI infrastructure race.

NVIDIA has participated in Ayar Labs' $155 million Series D round alongside AMD Ventures and Intel Capital, demonstrating how even competitors collaborate on advancing AI infrastructure technologies. NVIDIA also participated in SandboxAQ's $450 million Series E and Runway's $308 million Series D.

Intel Capital has been particularly active, with investments spanning multiple AI chip companies including Bright Machines ($106 million Series C) and participation in various rounds alongside other corporate ventures. AMD Ventures participated in Celestial AI's $175 million Series C and multiple other AI hardware companies.

Amazon has made its largest strategic investment in AI through $4 billion in Anthropic (in addition to an earlier $4 billion commitment), while Microsoft participated in OpenAI's $6.6 billion round. These investments often include strategic partnerships, with Anthropic naming AWS as its primary cloud provider and using AWS chips for training.

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What regions or countries are seeing the most AI chip investment activity?

The United States captured approximately $178 billion (57%) of total global funding in 2024, with the San Francisco Bay Area alone accounting for $90 billion, experiencing a boom from AI investing compared to $59 billion in 2023.

China has aggressively increased AI chip investment through state-backed initiatives, with Biren Technology raising $207 million from Guangdong and Shanghai government funds. The country has launched an $8.2 billion National AI Industry Investment Fund in 2025, supplemented by the $47 billion "Big Fund III" specifically targeting semiconductor development.

European AI chip activity centers around companies like Axelera AI (Netherlands) with $68 million, Black Semiconductor (Germany) with €254.4 million for graphene-based chips, and Fractile (UK) with £15 million for radical chip design. Wooptix secured €10 million Series C led by Samsung Venture Investment Corporation.

Asian markets beyond China show significant activity, with Southeast Asian countries like Vietnam, Malaysia, and Singapore attracting record semiconductor FDI. South Korean conglomerates Samsung, LG, and Hyundai are major strategic investors, participating in Tenstorrent's record round.

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What exactly do these funded AI chip companies specialize in—training, inference, edge computing, etc.?

AI chip companies are pursuing specialized architectures optimized for specific workloads rather than general-purpose computing, creating distinct market segments with different technical and commercial requirements.

Tenstorrent focuses on both AI training and inference with open-source RISC-V architecture, avoiding expensive high-bandwidth memory (HBM) to compete on cost with NVIDIA. Groq specializes in Language Processing Units (LPUs) designed specifically for AI inference acceleration.

Ayar Labs develops in-package optical interconnects optimized for AI training and inference, providing terabits of bandwidth bidirectionally from chip packages. Enfabrica creates network interface controllers specifically for AI data centers.

Edge computing specialists include companies like Etched.ai, which makes chips that can run AI models faster and cheaper than GPUs for transformer-specific workloads. EnCharge AI focuses on analog in-memory computing to eliminate Von Neumann bottlenecks for energy-efficient AI processing.

Automotive AI represents a major specialization, with companies developing chips for autonomous vehicles that process real-time sensor data. Data center and cloud applications drive investments in high-performance training chips, while mobile and IoT applications fuel development of ultra-low-power inference processors.

Are there any new or emerging AI chip startups that raised seed or Series A funding?

Several promising early-stage AI chip companies have emerged with significant seed and Series A rounds, indicating strong investor appetite for innovative approaches to AI hardware.

Etched.ai raised a substantial $120 million Series A round led by Primary Venture Partners and Positive Sum, with participation from Peter Thiel and Kyle Vogt. The San Francisco-based company focuses on making chips that can run AI models faster and cheaper than traditional GPUs.

Lila Sciences raised a $200 million seed round led by Flagship Pioneering to create a science superintelligence platform. Positron AI secured a $23.5 million seed round to challenge NVIDIA with U.S.-made AI chips.

Other notable early-stage raises include Nexthop AI's $110 million Series A led by Lightspeed Venture Partners for AI infrastructure, and Eudia's $105 million Series A led by General Catalyst for AI legal tech applications.

The size of these early-stage rounds—often exceeding traditional Series B or C amounts—reflects both the capital-intensive nature of chip development and investor confidence in AI hardware opportunities. Many of these companies are pursuing novel architectures like neuromorphic computing, in-memory processing, and application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs) for transformers.

What specific R&D breakthroughs or innovations are being financed through these investments?

Investment dollars are flowing toward breakthrough innovations that could fundamentally reshape AI computing architecture and efficiency.

Tenstorrent's open-source approach represents a paradigm shift, using RISC-V architecture and avoiding expensive high-bandwidth memory to make AI chips more cost-effective and interoperable. The company's Grayskull and Wormhole processors feature up to 120 Tensix Cores with specialized SRAM configurations.

Optical interconnect technology is advancing rapidly, with Ayar Labs developing standards-based optical I/O chiplets that can carry eight light channels and provide up to 16 wavelengths of light for terabit-scale bandwidth.

Analog in-memory computing represents another major breakthrough area, eliminating the Von Neumann bottleneck by performing computations directly in memory rather than shuttling data between memory and processors. Neuromorphic computing approaches mimic brain-like processing for ultra-low power applications.

Advanced packaging innovations include chiplet-based designs and 3D integration technologies that overcome Moore's Law limitations. Quantum-AI hybrid approaches are exploring quantum-classical integration for specific AI workloads, while specialized transformer ASICs sacrifice flexibility for massive performance gains in large language model inference.

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Are there any patterns in the types of AI workloads (LLMs, edge AI, autonomous driving, etc.) that are attracting investment?

Investment patterns reveal clear specialization toward specific AI workloads, with different applications driving distinct technical requirements and commercial opportunities.

Large Language Model (LLM) inference is attracting massive investment, driven by the explosive growth of ChatGPT and similar applications. Groq's $640 million raise specifically targets LLM acceleration with their Language Processing Units. Etched.ai's $120 million Series A focuses on transformer-specific ASICs that sacrifice flexibility for massive LLM performance gains.

Edge AI and IoT applications represent the largest growth opportunity by device volume, with companies developing ultra-low-power chips for mobile phones, smart cameras, and industrial sensors. These applications prioritize energy efficiency over raw performance, driving innovation in analog computing and neuromorphic architectures.

Autonomous vehicle AI has attracted substantial investment, with specialized chips needed to process real-time sensor fusion from cameras, LiDAR, and radar. The automotive market offers high-volume opportunities with strict safety and reliability requirements that differ significantly from data center applications.

Data center training applications continue to drive the highest-value investments, with companies developing specialized accelerators for training large AI models. These applications require maximum compute density and high-bandwidth memory integration, representing the most technically challenging and capital-intensive segment.

What deal terms or investment conditions (e.g. equity, valuation, strategic partnerships) are being disclosed for these rounds?

AI chip investment rounds feature complex deal structures that go beyond traditional equity investments, often including strategic partnerships, technology licensing agreements, and chip access provisions.

Tenstorrent's $693 million Series D was oversubscribed at a pre-money valuation of $2 billion, with the round consisting of over $593 million in equity and a $100 million convertible note from 2023 that converted to equity. The company has already closed deals worth approximately $150 million, mainly IP licenses to companies like LG Electronics.

Groq's $640 million Series D valued the company at $2.8 billion, while Ayar Labs' $155 million Series D achieved a valuation of more than $1 billion. Biren Technology was valued at approximately 14 billion yuan ($2 billion) prior to its latest $207 million funding round.

Strategic partnerships are increasingly common, with investments often including customer commitments, joint development agreements, and manufacturing partnerships. For example, Amazon's investment in Anthropic included AWS becoming the primary cloud provider and using AWS chips for training.

Alternative financing structures are emerging, with companies like CoreWeave securing $7.5 billion in private debt backed by AI chip inventory. Some rounds include chip access agreements where investors receive guaranteed allocation of scarce GPU capacity, reflecting the critical supply constraints in the AI chip market.

What can we expect in terms of investment trends in the AI chip sector heading into 2026?

The AI chip investment landscape is poised for significant evolution in 2026, driven by market maturation, geopolitical tensions, and technological breakthroughs that could reshape the competitive dynamics.

Investment strategies are expected to shift from aggressive funding and rapid scaling to more disciplined and strategic approaches, with VCs adopting greater focus on sustainable business models rather than pure innovation. Nearly 30% of 153 private AI startups are likely acquisition targets within the next 12 months, suggesting industry consolidation.

Efficiency will become the dominant investment theme following breakthroughs like DeepSeek's demonstration that efficient models can achieve similar performance with dramatically less compute. This shift will favor companies developing power-efficient architectures over pure performance leaders.

Geopolitical factors will intensify, with U.S.-China trade tensions driving investment in domestic chip capabilities. China's state-backed funding through the $47 billion Big Fund III and regional government funds will accelerate domestic AI chip development. European initiatives and Middle Eastern sovereign wealth funds will increasingly invest in developing regional AI chip capabilities.

Edge AI applications will drive the next wave of investment as costs decrease and power efficiency improves, enabling AI deployment in mobile devices, IoT sensors, and autonomous systems. The total market for AI chips is projected to reach $473.2 billion by 2035, with edge applications representing the highest growth segment by device volume.

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Conclusion

Sources

1. Reuters - AI startups drive VC funding resurgence
2. Mintz - State of the Funding Market for AI Companies
3. National Law Review - AI Companies Funding Market Outlook
4. TechCrunch - US AI startups that raised $100M+ in 2025
5. Semiconductor Engineering - Startup Funding Q4 2024
6. Crunchbase - Largest AI Startup Funding Deals of 2024
7. Crunchbase - Funding To US Chip Startups Spikes
8. Crunchbase - Startup Funding Regained Its Footing In 2024
9. R&D World - 25 largest R&D funding rounds 2024
10. TechCrunch - 49 US AI startups that raised $100M+ in 2024
11. EE Times - Tenstorrent Raises $693 Million Series D
12. TechCrunch - Jeff Bezos backs AI chipmaker Tenstorrent
13. Maginative - Tenstorrent Secures $693M to Challenge NVIDIA
14. Reuters - China AI chip firm Biren raises new funds
15. Bloomberg - China's AI Chipmaker Biren Wins $280 Million