chips

chips on Beyond Market Intelligence: a running collection of 5 stories we have gathered and hand-picked because they are worth your time. Every post here touches on chips in some way — the news, the analysis, the deep dives, and the occasional surprise find. Acme AI is the next-generation, AI-powered spreadsheet platform built to replace Excel and redefine how analysts, data scientists, and enterprise teams work with data. New stories are added to this page as we find them, so check back if you want to keep up with what is happening around chips, or subscribe to the RSS feed to get them as soon as they are published. Browse the collection below, or head back to the homepage to see everything Beyond Market Intelligence is covering right now.

Amazon just tripled its order of Nvidia chips over ‘surging demand’
TechCrunch

Amazon just tripled its order of Nvidia chips over ‘surging demand’

Amazon's commitment to AI infrastructure has dramatically escalated, with a tripling of its Nvidia chip order—an additional 2 million GPUs slated for deployment over the next two years. This significant investment underscores surging demand and extends beyond simple procurement, signaling a deeper strategic partnership. The move highlights the accelerating need for powerful computational resources to fuel advanced AI applications. For a deeper look at innovative AI agent training, explore our recent article on Arga Labs and their $10 million seed funding.

Nvidia investing $1.5B in SoftBank data center developer behind OpenAI project
TechCrunch

Nvidia investing $1.5B in SoftBank data center developer behind OpenAI project

Nvidia is strategically bolstering its AI infrastructure, investing $1.5 billion in SoftBank’s data center developer, a move that guarantees Nvidia’s chips will power a dedicated OpenAI data center. This significant investment underscores the escalating demand for specialized hardware to support advanced AI models. The move positions Nvidia at the forefront of this rapidly evolving landscape, ensuring its technology remains central to groundbreaking AI initiatives. For a broader perspective on the shifting landscape of AI hardware, explore our article on Groq’s recent funding round.

Discovered Materials is playing AI whack-a-mole to hunt cooler chips
TechCrunch

Discovered Materials is playing AI whack-a-mole to hunt cooler chips

Discovered Materials is pioneering a novel approach to chip development, essentially playing “AI whack-a-mole” to uncover superior materials for more efficient semiconductors. The company recently secured $9 million in funding to accelerate this search for groundbreaking compounds. This innovative strategy addresses a critical bottleneck in chip performance, moving beyond traditional material science. As Situational Awareness demonstrated with their $400M investment in Source Foundry, the pursuit of advanced chip technology remains a high-priority area for strategic investors.

AI chip startup Etched defies skeptics, hits $10.3B valuation from big-name investors 
TechCrunch

AI chip startup Etched defies skeptics, hits $10.3B valuation from big-name investors 

Etched, a nascent AI chip startup founded by Harvard dropouts, is rapidly gaining traction, achieving a remarkable $10.3 billion valuation from prominent investors. Unlike traditional approaches reliant on GPUs, Etched's innovative chips and memory components accelerate AI model inference directly, streamlining workflows and unlocking new possibilities. This advancement positions Etched as a key player in the evolving AI landscape. For further insight into the broader impact of AI on various industries, explore our recent piece on how Expedia is leveraging AI to accelerate incident investigation.

Analog AI Is Back, But Can It Survive Its Own Noise?
Towards Data Science

Analog AI Is Back, But Can It Survive Its Own Noise?

The resurgence of analog AI presents a compelling solution to AI's escalating energy demands, leveraging physics rather than digital logic for computation. This exploration delves into how these chips function, revisiting a technology previously hampered by inherent noise. We examine the challenges that nearly sidelined analog computing and demonstrate the impact of simulated noise firsthand. For a broader perspective on AI deployment challenges, see "QCon AI Boston: Production AI Moves Beyond Prompts to Platforms, Harnesses, and Evals."