Topics
Latest
AI
Amazon
Image Credits:Yutthana Gaetgeaw(opens in a new window)/ Getty Images
Apps
Biotech & Health
Climate
Image Credits:Yutthana Gaetgeaw(opens in a new window)/ Getty Images
Cloud Computing
Commerce
Crypto
Enterprise
EVs
Fintech
Fundraising
gismo
Gaming
Government & Policy
Hardware
layoff
Media & Entertainment
Meta
Microsoft
concealment
Robotics
Security
societal
outer space
startup
TikTok
transit
Venture
More from TechCrunch
event
Startup Battlefield
StrictlyVC
Podcasts
video
Partner Content
TechCrunch Brand Studio
Crunchboard
Contact Us
Over the past couple of years , Nvidia , by far the largest AI chipmaker , has ramped up its investments in startups that propel it deeper into the AI blank . Accordingto S&P Global and Crunchbase , the funding and investment database , Nvidia ’s startup investment jumped 280 % year - over - year from 2022 to 2023 , with the company and its VC arm , Nvidia Ventures , participating in ~46 deals last year .
It ’s not the only one . Nvidia ’s master contender in the AI chip space — AMD , Arm and Intel — have been investing sharply in startups , too , looking to make up ground in markets inclusive of the specially frothy generative AI section .
We at TechCrunch were curious to see how the investments pile up between the top AI chipmakers — Nvidia , AMD , Arm and Intel . So we centre over Crunchbase data , with an middle toward late natural action from each chipmaker and their VC divisions .
Intel
Of Nvidia ’s competitor , Intel far and aside has the biggest startup investment funds performance thanks to Intel Capital , its long - running VC . In 2023 , Intel Capital deploy over $ 350 million across its investments , including OpenAI rivalAI21 Labs , identity risk direction platformGrip Security , app delivery networkFly.ioand workplace safety outfit TuMeke .
Crunchbase information is n’t thorough . But it shows that Intel Capital take part in 32 inauguration flock in 2023 , down from 47 in 2022 . Intel also directly invested in two startups last class ( hug Face andTwelve Labs ) , per Crunchbase , plus made a “ non - equity ” investment in payment infrastructure startupTweed(via Intel’sIgnite accelerator ) — bring its heroic full mess tally to 34 in 2023 and 47 in 2022 .
Crunchbase list Intel as having empower in Vanguard SemiConductor andAleph Alpha , but a spokesperson say TechCrunch that ’s wrong , so we ’ve excluded them from the count .
Curiously , AI startups — despite their strategical importance to the scrap manufacture these days — make up a comparatively lowly portion of Intel ’s speculation portfolio . According to Crunchbase , Intel ’s belongings in software , IT and endeavour SaaS companies far outnumber its AI startup holdings by mass bulk .
Join us at TechCrunch Sessions: AI
Exhibit at TechCrunch Sessions: AI
That could change as Intel seeks to save unexampled software product and services , include GenAI - power products , that make its computer hardware more attractive for a compass of AI applications . Just in January , Intel spun out a company , Articul8 AI , to construct GenAI solutions run on Intel chips for go-ahead in the aerospace , financial help , telecom and semiconductor gadget industries .
Arm
Arm might not be a particularly participating inauguration investor equate to Intel . But the company , which makes most of its money licensing chipsets it plan to customers , has several direct investment deals as well as deals through Deeptech Labs , a VC stock and accelerator that Arm co - set in motion with the University of Cambridge , Cambridge Innovation Capital and Martlet Capital .
Last yr , Arm made four direct investing in inauguration — microprocessor venture SiPearl , eSIM security system ship’s company Kigen and Raspberry Pi and the Raspberry Pi Foundation — and six investments through Deeptech Labs . Beneficiaries of the Deeptech Labs cash includedNu Quantum , a quantum networking inauguration ; RoboK , which is building 3D smell out tech ; and Perceptual Robotics , a provider of automated steer turbine inspection tech .
Altogether , then , Arm rain buckets money into 10 startups in 2023 . That ’s a significant uptick from 2022 , when Arm empower in just four company — a direct investment in the open source computer hardware inauguration Arduino and three investment funds through Deeptech Labs ( Waku Robotics , Xapien and SonicEdge ) .
One presumes Arm ’s future investment will rope in AI in a more obvious way , giventhat the caller ’s bet on sales of both its datum heart and consumer AI chips to steeply increase this year .
AMD
AMD has a VC org of its own , AMD Ventures , through which it commit in startups . But for AMD , the deals come comparatively few and far between .
Last year , AMD Ventures made a handful of investment , take part in the Series A for Ethernovia , a startup build a family of ethernet chip and software package , and indue in rounds for Essential AI , which looks to initiate AI - powered software package automation tech ; Moreh , a company create tool to optimize AI manakin ; and Hugging Face ( alongside Intel and Nvidia ) . The yr before , AMD inked a single deal with Radian Arc , an infrastructure - as - a - service political platform for cloud play and AI — and made no other investments .
AMD ’s mess sum in 2023 came to four — on the conservative side compare to rivals . But 2024 may look a chip different . Contacted for gossip , AMD had this to deal from Matthew Hein , the company ’s chief strategy officer of incarnate growing :
AMD Ventures has ramped up its investment body process in the retiring twelvemonth and is looking to accelerate further in 2024 , targeting attain a two-fold - digit investment level . We empower across level , supporting promising early startups poised to become food market leaders , as well as mature later leg companies . Most of our new investments in 2024 will be targeting the AI ecosystem , include AI platforms , generative simulation companies and AI infrastructure offerings .
2024 will be a polar year for AMD in other deference . The company ’s ramp up output of its MI300 AI poker chip , which is design to manage AI workloads in data point centers , and launching Ryzen 8040 , its mobile AI - accelerate processors trammel for laptop computer .
By the numbers
So it ’s dead on target : Nvidia is n’t the only chipmaker investing in former ventures . But itdoesappear to be outgunning the competition . In the first three quarters of 2023 alone , Nvidia funneled nearly a billion dollars to “ non - connected ” firms , per the earlier S&P Globalreport — a figure even Intel Capital struggled to equal .
achiever in the AI chipmaking blank space need n’t entail fostering a racy startup ecosystem . But it ’s clear that Nvidia , one of the world ’s most valuable companies with control of about 95 % of the grocery store for AI chips , is play for keeps — undertake to shore up dominance by spreading its financial influence far and broad .
I ’d say its rival have their work tailor out for them .
