TYLSemi raises $43 million to create building blocks of custom AI chips

SAN FRANCISCO, July 14 (Reuters) - TYLSemi, a startup founded by executives from recent Qualcomm acquisition AlphaWave, on Tuesday said it has raised $43 million in early funding to help companies build their own AI chips.

The market for such AI chips is booming, with major companies such as Meta Platforms working with Broadcom and others to develop custom semiconductors. Broadcom and its rival Marvell Technology both have proprietary technology for making chips talk to each other at high speed, and the only way to access that technology is to work with them to develop a custom chip.

TYLSemi co-founders Mohit Gupta and Sunil Bhardwaj, who kicked off their company less than a year after Qualcomm's purchase of AlphaWave, want to take a different approach by supplying pieces of custom AI chips called "chiplets" based on open industry standards. TYLSemi's customers will then be able to mix and match those with technologies from other providers for packaging into a final chip.

"I feel progress happens with standardization," Gupta told Reuters. "Whenever you do proprietary lock-in, it's a short-term game. Yes, you can squeeze (customers) given your position and whatnot, but it's not healthy for the market."

Matter Venture Partners led the funding round, with participation from Viola Ventures, GHOVC and Egis Technology. TYLSemi said it had also secured a strategic investment from "leading companies across the global semiconductor and AI infrastructure ecosystem" but did not name the investors.