Etched raises $300M Series C at $10.3B for AI inference chips
AI inference chip startup Etched closed a $300M Series C led by Sequoia, with a16z, SK Hynix, and others participating, at a $10.3B valuation. The round roughly doubles its prior $5B mark from December and underscores intensifying capital competition for non-GPU inference silicon.
Key takeaway
Top-tier venture and memory-chip capital is still concentrating on specialized inference hardware, treating alternatives to general-purpose GPUs as a scaled bet rather than a side experiment.
Context
Etched, founded by Harvard dropouts, is building silicon aimed at AI inference rather than training. The new Series C was led by Sequoia and included Andreessen Horowitz and SK Hynix, pairing software-side investors with a major memory supplier.
The company is now valued at $10.3B, up from about $5B in December. That six-month doubling, alongside a $300M check size, signals that investors expect cost-efficient inference architectures to matter as model deployment spend grows.
Numbers to know
- $300MSeries C amount raised
- $10.3BPost-money valuation on this round
- $5BPrior valuation in December