AI chip startup MatX, founded by Google alums, has raised a Series A funding round of approximately $80 million, sources say. This comes less than a year after the company secured a $25 million seed round, signaling strong investor confidence in the burgeoning AI chip market.
MatX Secures Significant Funding to Fuel AI Chip Development
Spark Capital led the Series A investment in MatX, valuing the company at a pre-money valuation in the mid-$200 million range and a post-money valuation in the low $300 million range. This significant influx of capital will enable MatX to accelerate the development and production of its innovative AI chips.
Addressing the AI Chip Shortage
MatX was co-founded two years ago by Mike Gunter and Reiner Pope, both former members of Google’s Tensor Processing Unit (TPU) team. Recognizing the growing demand for AI-specific chips, Gunter and Pope aim to alleviate the current shortage with their high-performance, cost-effective solutions.
MatX Chips: Optimized for Large Language Models
The MatX chips are specifically designed to handle the complex workloads of large language models (LLMs). These chips excel in managing AI workloads with “at least” 7 billion, and “ideally” 20 billion or more activated parameters. This makes them particularly well-suited for the demands of advanced AI applications.
High Performance and Scalability
According to the MatX website, the company’s chips deliver exceptional performance at competitive prices. Moreover, their advanced interconnect technology allows for efficient scaling to large clusters, enabling even greater computational power for AI tasks.
Ambitious Goals for MatX in the AI Chip Market
MatX has set ambitious goals for its AI chips, aiming to outperform NVIDIA’s GPUs by tenfold in both LLM training and result delivery. This bold vision underscores the company’s commitment to pushing the boundaries of AI chip technology.
Strong Investor Backing for MatX
MatX’s seed round, announced last December, was led by prominent AI angel investors Nat Friedman, former CEO of GitHub, and Daniel Gross, former head of search and AI at Apple. Their continued support and the participation of Spark Capital in the Series A round highlight the strong investor confidence in MatX’s potential.
The Rise of AI Chip Startups
The AI boom has fueled significant investor interest in chip companies like MatX. This trend is evident in the recent valuation increase of Groq, another AI chip startup founded by a former TPU engineer, which nearly tripled to $2.8 billion in August.
