Etched is raising $10 billion from Sequoia while targeting a $20 billion valuation, capitalizing on the AI boom. The chip startup aims to validate its first product for inference.
Alpha Score of 72 reflects strong overall profile with strong momentum, weak value, strong quality, moderate sentiment.
Artificial intelligence chip startup Etched is seeking a valuation of roughly $20 billion, nearly quadruple its previous level, the Wall Street Journal reported Friday, citing people familiar with the matter.
The company is also raising capital at a $10 billion valuation in a separate round led by Sequoia Capital, the people said. Back-to-back funding rounds at escalating prices have become common in Silicon Valley's AI boom, the WSJ noted, a sign of the bargaining power startups hold over investors racing to back the leading firms.
Etched is developing a chip designed specifically for inference, the process of running AI models after they are trained. The company's website says it is testing its initial chip design and working to validate its first product to meet $1 billion in demand from clients.
Nvidia remains the dominant supplier of AI chips, with its graphics processing units powering the training of large models. A crop of startups is trying to carve out a niche in inference, following the success of Cerebras Systems and Groq. Nvidia carries an Alpha Score of 70, reflecting a moderate risk profile. NVDA stock page
Etched was launched in 2022 by a trio of Harvard dropouts: Gavin Uberti, Chris Zhu and Robert Wachen. Early backers include Stripes, Peter Thiel, Ribbit Capital and Primary Venture Partners.
Separately, a PYMNTS report earlier this year argued that the AI story's framing as an "arms race" overlooks a harder question: whether ordinary organizations can generate ongoing demand inside day-to-day work. "The question facing the market is no longer simply whether frontier models can perform astonishing tasks," that report said. "It is whether accountants, nurses, insurance adjusters, and their peers across Main Street can integrate AI into the highly specialized workflows they understand better than any Silicon Valley engineer."
Etched is testing its initial chip design and working to validate its first product to meet $1 billion in demand from clients, the company's website says.
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