SiMa.ai raises $150 million to challenge Nvidia on AI chips
The Series C values the physical-AI chip startup at $1.45 billion, SiliconAngle reports, as SiMa.ai pitches lower-power silicon for robots and drones against Nvidia's CUDA platform.
SiMa.ai raised $150 million in a Series C round led by Fidelity Management & Research and Amplify. The round values the physical-AI chip startup at $1.45 billion, SiliconAngle reported.
Alter Venture Partners, Dell Technologies Capital, StepStone Group, AllianceBernstein, Baron Capital and J.P. Morgan also joined the round, according to the outlet. SiMa.ai builds custom silicon and software for physical AI. That covers the hardware inside robots, drones and autonomous vehicles, pairing AI models with sensors and actuators.
The company positions its chips as a lower-power, faster-to-deploy alternative to Nvidia's CUDA architecture. It says customers can get running in days rather than the months a Nvidia-based system can take, SiliconAngle reported. SiMa.ai contrasted its approach with Nvidia's Jetson AGX Thor. That chip delivers 2,000 FP4 TOPS, SiMa.ai said, but at the cost of high complexity and power draw.
SiMa.ai said it aims to deliver 1,000 TOPS with hardware due by mid-2028, targeting cost-sensitive mid- to high-end applications rather than competing with Nvidia at the top of the market. The comparisons are the company's own. SiliconAngle did not report independent benchmarks of SiMa.ai's current chips.