Intel and Dell-Backed Startup Secures $250M Funding to Develop Cutting-Edge AI Chips

Chip startup Rivos has successfully secured $250 million in Series A-3 funding to develop high-performance hardware specifically designed for artificial intelligence (AI) workloads. Established in 2021, Rivos is focused on creating RISC-V-based AI server chips that facilitate the training and inference of large language models.

This funding round was led by Matrix Capital Management and featured notable contributions from Intel Capital, Dell Technologies Capital, and Koch Disruptive Technologies. Additional investors include Cambium Capital, Hotung Venture Group, and MediaTek, all of whom enhance the startup's potential for growth and innovation.

With these funds, Rivos aims to finalize its initial silicon product while expanding its manufacturing capabilities and software engineering initiatives. “The landscape of large language models is evolving rapidly, and integrating the data analytics stack necessitates that accelerators must be straightforward to program and debug. This will ensure seamless data transfer between the CPU and accelerator,” stated Puneet Kumar, co-founder and CEO of Rivos. "Our recompile-not-redesign approach effectively addresses this pressing requirement."

Based in Santa Clara, California, Rivos is innovating server chips that combine an AI accelerator with a CPU, optimizing the hardware for the execution of AI models and the management of data analytics applications. In addition to its chip technology, Rivos is committed to developing software solutions that complement its open-source architecture, drawing parallels to Nvidia’s well-known CUDA toolkit.

David Goel, managing general partner at Matrix Capital Management, emphasized the potential impact of Rivos’ technology: “By broadening the application of data analytics and large language models to include diverse data types such as genomic and medical information, we are unlocking extraordinary avenues for innovation in both research and treatment. The Rivos team has remarkably integrated the pioneering RISC-V architecture with an innovative accelerator, successfully translating this vision into reality.”

Rivos' founding team brings a wealth of experience from leading technology companies; Kumar previously held positions as a senior director at Google and a director at Apple, while co-founders Mark Hayter and Belli Kuttanna have backgrounds at Apple and Intel, respectively.

Beyond its headquarters in California, Rivos has established offices in Austin, Fort Collins, and Portland, as well as international operations in Cambridge, U.K., Bangalore, India, and Hsinchu, Taiwan. This geographic diversity underscores Rivos' commitment to harnessing global talent in the pursuit of technological advancement in AI and data analytics.