Nvidia-backed SiFive reaches $3.65 billion for open AI chips

SiFive, a company founded in 2015 by UC Berkeley engineers who pioneered an open source chip design, has reached… The offering was oversubscribed at $400 million The round values ​​the company at $3.65 billion.

This deal is interesting for several reasons. For example, SiFive’s open RISC-V chip design is based on a RISC processor, not an Intel x86 or ARM processor, the two main types of CPUs currently fueling Nvidia’s GPU computer system AI empire.

Also, Nvidia was an investor in this round, along with a long list of venture capital firms, private equity, and hedge funds. The round was led by Atreides Management, founded by former Fidelity senior investor Gavin Baker. (Atreides was also an investor in… Cerebras Systems is worth $1 billion). Other investors in the round include Apollo Global Management, D1 Capital Partners, Point72 Turion, T. Rowe Price Sutter Hill Ventures, and others.

SiFive’s business model is similar to Arm’s in years past: it licenses its chip designs to those who modify them to meet their own needs and does not sell the chips themselves. (In March, Arm changed its paradigm when it launched the first chip it ever made. AI chip, developed by Meta with customers including OpenAI, Cerebras, and Cloudflare.)

SiFive stands in the rarefied air with chip designs that are open, non-proprietary, as well as agnostic, and not dependent on specific customers. In fact, SiFive hasn’t raised since March 2022, according to Pitchbook estimates, when it brought in $175 million led by Coatue Management at a pre-money valuation of $2.33 billion. Intel Capital, Qualcomm Ventures, and Aramco Ventures were part of that round.

RISC-V was, until recently, better known as a chip intended for smaller uses, such as embedded systems. But with that money and Nvidia’s attention, SiFive is moving into CPUs for AI data centers. SiFive Designs It will work with Nvidia CUDA software and In Link Fusiona rack server system that allows different CPUs to connect to Nvidia’s “AI Factory.”

In other words, while rivals Intel and AMD seek to compete with Nvidia’s GPU, Nvidia is backing an 11-year-old startup that can design CPUs on completely open and alternative technology.