Back to all articles
•Technology

Etched Enters AI Chip Arena with Strong Backing and Notable Contracts

View original source

Etched, a new AI chip competitor to giants like Nvidia, has officially revealed its progress and future plans. Key highlights from the recent announcement include:

  • Etched's new AI chips and associated systems, termed "frontier inference clusters," are designed to enhance AI model performance in terms of speed, cost, and energy efficiency.
  • After being manufactured by TSMC earlier this year, these chips have already generated $1 billion in contract orders.
  • Founded in 2022 by Gavin Uberti and Robert Wachen, the company has swiftly raised $800 million, including a recent $500 million funding round, elevating its valuation to $5 billion.
  • Etched boasts prominent investors like VentureTech Alliance and well-known individuals such as Peter Thiel and Andrej Karpathy.
  • Despite talks of stealth status, Etched's founders have been openly discussing plans and challenges since 2023, initially struggling to gain investor interest.
  • The company enters a market that's quickly evolving, marked by competitors like Cerebras and Groq, as well as major tech firms developing their own AI chips.