Reported 8 months ago
Etched, an artificial intelligence startup based in San Francisco, has raised $120 million in a series-A funding round led by former PayPal CEO Peter Thiel and Replit CEO Amjad Masad. The company plans to use the funding to develop a specialized chip specifically designed for running specific AI models like OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Google Gemini. Unlike Nvidia's general-purpose AI chips, the chip being designed by Etched will be optimized for inference tasks using transformer models. Etched has partnered with Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. for chip fabrication, and this funding will cover the costs of manufacturing. CEO Gavin Uberti expressed optimism for the company's future in the AI industry, though acknowledging the risk associated with being dependent on the success of transformer models.
Source: YAHOO