Etched hits $10.3B valuation on $300M Sequoia-led Series C
AI inference chip startup Etched closed a $300 million Series C led by Sequoia, with a16z and SK Hynix among participants, at a $10.3 billion valuation. The round doubles its prior $5 billion mark from December and backs custom silicon aimed at accelerating AI inference without traditional GPUs.
Key takeaway
Investor appetite is concentrating on specialized inference silicon as a second hardware bet beside GPUs, with memory-component and non-GPU claims now priced at multi-billion scale.
Context
Etched, founded by Harvard dropouts, is positioning custom chips and memory components to speed AI inference outside the standard GPU stack. TechCrunch frames the round as defiance of skeptics who doubted non-GPU inference architectures could attract mega-rounds.
Sequoia led the $300 million Series C; Andreessen Horowitz and SK Hynix participated. The $10.3 billion post-money valuation is roughly double the $5 billion level reported in December, signaling compressed capital competition for inference hardware.
Numbers to know
- $300MSeries C amount raised
- $10.3BPost-money valuation on this round
- $5BPrior valuation mark from December