Topics
Latest
AI
Amazon
Image Credits:Getty Images
Apps
Biotech & Health
clime
Image Credits:Getty Images
Cloud Computing
Commerce
Crypto
Enterprise
EVs
Fintech
Fundraising
Gadgets
gage
Government & Policy
Hardware
Layoffs
Media & Entertainment
Meta
Microsoft
Privacy
Robotics
Security
Social
distance
Startups
TikTok
Transportation
speculation
More from TechCrunch
event
Startup Battlefield
StrictlyVC
Podcasts
video
Partner Content
TechCrunch Brand Studio
Crunchboard
Contact Us
Rivos made newspaper headline in 2022 after Apple filed a craft secrets suit against it , which accuse Rivos of hiring away scores of Apple engineers and using secret info to develop chipping to rival the iPhone maker ’s own .
The company denied the allegation and countersued Apple for unjust contention . Apple end upsettling its lawsuitin February . Around the same time , it end separate litigation with several of the Apple engineers Rivos had hired .
Now , with the courtroom drama behind it , Rivos is redoubling its efforts to lend its chipset technical school to marketplace , CEO Puneet Kumar say TechCrunch .
“ Rivos was establish with the mission of building industry - leading , power - effective , high - public presentation chips , ” Kumar aver . “ We ’re excited to be targeting customer who are work up data - repulse solutions . ”
A substantial new funding tranche will aid to finance those efforts .
It ’s quite the change of mind for Rivos , which was establish in 2021 and roughly a year ago was struggling to raise monetary resource from investor and raise employee under the shadow of the Apple case . In August , Rivos laid off near two 12 employee , or 6 % of its hands at the fourth dimension , and was forced to delay a planned $ 400 billion Series A fundraising troll , The Information report at the fourth dimension .
Join us at TechCrunch Sessions: AI
Exhibit at TechCrunch Sessions: AI
A custom server chip
The prospicient - term goal with Rivos , Kumar said , is to build chips primarily for server that can handle intensive information analytics and AI workloads , include productive AI work load .
“ We ’re targeting customers building data - driven solutions ( e.g. , those utilize generative AI and data analytics to get determination ) , ” Kumar say . “ There ’re many companies targeting such markets;Rivossupports the acute ironware requirements of the AI mannequin and analytics that will remake the endeavour . ”
Rivos ’ first chipset is built on RISC - V , the open stock education solidifying computer architecture ( ISA ) .
ISAs are a technical specification at the foundation of every Saratoga chip , draw how software program controls the chip shot ’s hardware . For general - determination computing , chip design squad typically license an existing ISA from an officeholder ( e.g. , Arm or Intel ) . But RISC - V presents an open , no - royalties - attached choice .
Rivos ’ chip features what Kumar describes as a “ data parallel accelerator ” to belt along up AI- and big data point – related computations , essentially a GPU design for purpose beyond art processing . It was made using TSMC ’s 3 nanometer fabrication unconscious process . In chip manufacture , “ process ” look up to the size of the smallest constituent that can be implant on a silicon chip .
That 3 micromillimetre is considered close to the cutting edge . While Qualcomm , MediaTek , Nvidia and AMD among others areexpectedto hire TSMC ’s process for their approaching chip families , Apple was the only company to utilize it in 2024 in its M3 chipset serial publication .
In addition to building the chip , Rivos is work on ego - turn back data center computer hardware based on theOpen Compute Project modular standard , which will effectively serve as plug - and - play chip housing . And it ’s make a “ firmware - to - app ” software program raft for programming the microchip , Kumar enunciate .
“ client workloads can be easily deploy on our more efficient ironware , but still using their existing models and database , yield them an immediate benefit , ” Kumar added .
Rivos , which is pre - revenue at the moment , plans to make money by charging customers — chiefly large information heart operators — for its hardware and complementary software solutions . David Goel , an former investor , say that Rivos ’ “ low - friction ” espousal word of mouth is a central differentiator in the cutthroat chip market .
“ The Rivos team has adeptly integrated the groundbreaking fresh RISC - V architecture with an imaginative catalyst , efficaciously bringing this visual modality to life , ” Goel told TechCrunch . “ Their image chip serves as a compelling monstrance of their unique capability . ”
But is it specialise enough ?
Stiff competition
Big Tech house — one of Rivos ’ potential customer section — are racing to uprise their own in - house chips for AI and big data analytics as the generative AI roaring bear on .
Google ’s on its fifth - genTPUand late revealedAxion , its first consecrated chip for run models . Amazon hasseveralcustomchipfamilies under its belt . Microsoft last yearjumped into the fraywith the Azure Maia AI Accelerator and the Azure Cobalt 100 CPU . And Meta’sinching alongwith its own designs .
Meanwhile , startups by the dozens areangling for a slice of a custom data centre check marketthat could strain $ 10 billion this twelvemonth and double by 2025 .
Groq , a company educate chip to run AI models faster than schematic hardware , recently formed a newfangled business enterprise unit gear toward endeavour applications and use case . AI computer hardware startupTenstorrent , helm by engineering luminary Jim Keller , is looking to build its chipsets into information centers . AndRebellions , a South KoreanfablessAI chip firm , has raised hundreds of 1000000 of clam in majuscule to ramp up output of its information sum – focus chip , Atom .
But Nvidia , the dominant force in chips right now , is proving to be a baffling one to topple .
Nvidia briefly became a $ 2 trillion company this twelvemonth , riding richly on the demand for its GPUs for AI breeding . Wells Fargo Equity Researchestimatesthat Nvidia has a 98 % market share in data point meat GPUs , and the company ’s data point nub business wasup more than 400%in Q4 2023 as Nvidiabuilds a new unitto design bespoke buffalo chip for cloud computing house and others .
afford the fierceness of the rival — and thechilling effectNvidia ’s mastery has had on funding for would - be rivals — it ’s been harsh going for some custom waiter cow dung upstarts .
A few months ago , Graphcore , which reportedly had its valuation whip by $ 1 billion after a deal with Microsoft fell through , say that it was planning task cuts due to the “ extremely intriguing ” macroeconomic environment . Habana Labs , the Intel - owned AI poker chip ship’s company , laid off an estimated 10 % of its manpower last yr . Also last class , SiFive — like Rivos , an RISC - V inauguration — let go of 20 % of its workforce and discontinued its core product strain .
So will Rivos fare better ? perhaps .
Kumar would n’t talk about client , and Rivos ’ Saratoga chip is n’t anticipated to reach mass production until sometime next year . But with 375 employees and hundreds of millions of clam in the bank building , Kumar say that Rivos is well - set to expand manufacturing and double down on platform and computer software engineering .
“ The rapid changes in procreative AI and the amalgamation with the data analytics stack makes it vital that accelerators be promiscuous to program and debug , and that information can seamlessly move between CPU and atom smasher , ” Kumar said . “ Rivos addresses this need through our ‘ recompile - not - redesign ’ approaching . ”
