Artificial intelligence startup Oxmiq announced on Wednesday that it has raised $35 million from investors to advance a combined chip design architecture and software stack intended to reduce the expense involved in building and operating AI applications.
Developing a cutting-edge AI chip can require hundreds of millions of dollars and take several years to complete the necessary silicon design and software support. Oxmiq’s stated objective is to collapse three traditionally separate components of an AI system into a single, licensable block of intellectual property (IP), Chief Executive Raja Koduri said in an interview.
Koduri said Oxmiq plans to merge graphics processing, central processing, and a tensor engine - the third component optimized for AI workloads - into one cohesive design. "We would want to be the Arm of this next era," Koduri said, referring to the U.K. company that supplies design and IP used broadly across the smartphone market.
In addition to packaging those elements together as IP, Oxmiq intends to develop a computing fabric that incorporates chiplets - discrete chips assembled to function as a single system - and memory inside a unified package. The architecture and accompanying software are being positioned as a way to bring down the time, complexity, and cost of creating and deploying AI silicon.
Koduri, who previously served as an Intel chief architect and held executive roles at AMD, said the company will also pursue opportunities in the custom chip market, where firms such as Broadcom, Marvell and MediaTek compete.
The Campbell, California-based company has now raised a total of $60 million, Oxmiq stated. The latest $35 million round counted Taiwan’s MediaTek and Pegatron Venture Capital among its investors, with Samsung Catalyst Fund and Fudomo leading the round.
Oxmiq plans to use the freshly committed capital to complete the first suite of intellectual property it is developing and to make those assets available as a product offering. Koduri also said the company will expand its engineering headcount as it scales.
Summary
Oxmiq raised $35 million to finish and commercialize an integrated AI chip IP suite combining GPU, CPU and tensor engine components, while building a chiplet-based computing fabric with on-package memory. The company aims to license that IP and enter the custom chip market alongside established suppliers.
Key points
- Oxmiq raised $35 million to develop combined chip architecture and software to lower AI deployment costs.
- The design collapses three components - graphics chips, central processors, and a tensor engine - into a single licensable IP block.
- The firm will also create a chiplet-based computing fabric with memory in a single package and pursue the custom chip market.
Risks and uncertainties
- Bringing integrated chip IP and supporting software to market requires completion of complex design and validation work - a multi-year, capital-intensive process that could affect timelines - this risk affects the semiconductor and AI infrastructure sectors.
- Entering the custom chip market puts Oxmiq in competition with established vendors such as Broadcom, Marvell and MediaTek, creating competitive and go-to-market challenges for the company.