Startup Rivos raises $250 million to develop RISC-V AI chips

[erek]

""RISC-V doesn't have a (large) software ecosystem, so I decided to form a company and then build software-defined hardware - just like what CUDA did with Nvidia," said Lip-Bu Tan, founding managing partner at Walden Catalyst, one of Rivos' investors.
Santa Clara, California-based Rivos is in the process of designing a server chip that combines a central processing unit and AI accelerator component that will be optimized for large language models and data analytics. The company began with the software necessary to compile computer code to allow the chip to run a program and designed the processor around the software.

"Usually the chip companies do it the other way: build the silicon, and then build the software on top," CEO Puneet Kumar told Reuters in an interview. "We decided, as a company that we should first look at software."
Matrix Capital Management was the largest investor in the funding round that also included investments from Intel, MediaTek (2454.TW), opens new tab and Dell Technologies (DELL.N)"

Source: https://www.reuters.com/technology/...0-million-develop-risc-v-ai-chips-2024-04-16/