Oxmiq Labs raises $35M Series A to slash the cost of AI chips
What's the deal? Oxmiq Labs has raised $35 million in a Series A round to build a chip architecture that could make AI computing far cheaper.
The startup, founded by industry veteran Raja KoduriDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →, brings its total funding to $60 million.
Investors include FundomoDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →, MediaTekDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →, Pegatron Venture CapitalDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →, and Samsung Catalyst FundDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →.
Why now? AI runs on powerful chips, and those chips are expensive.
Today only well-funded companies can afford to build and run AI at scale, locking smaller players out of the market.
Oxmiq's answer is OxCore, an architecture that combines the CPU, GPU, and tensor engine into a single unified design. Separate hardware for each function makes chip design complex and costly; merging them promises efficiency.
Unlike NVIDIA, Oxmiq will not manufacture chips. It plans to license its intellectual property, letting other semiconductor firms build custom AI chips without starting from scratch.
Koduri, who has held leadership roles at Intel, AMDDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →, and Apple, says the company wants to become "the Arm of this next era."
What could go wrong? Oxmiq is entering a fiercely competitive market dominated by entrenched giants.
Licensing lowers manufacturing risk, but adoption depends on convincing chipmakers to bet on unproven architecture.
The signal: Oxmiq's investor roster reads like a who's who of Asian hardware manufacturing, with MediaTekDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →, Pegatron Venture CapitalDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →, and Samsung Catalyst FundDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → all backing the round — the kind of strategic support a licensable-IP startup needs to win over the chipmakers it hopes will adopt OxCore. That backing tracks with Dealroom classifying Oxmiq as a breakout-stage company, suggesting the market sees real momentum behind its bid to become "the Arm" of AI silicon.
Read more: Startup Wired
Image credit: Sangitiana