Bolt Graphics seeks $100M to build non-AI chips rivalling Nvidia
What's the deal? Chip-design startup Bolt GraphicsDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → is seeking to raise roughly $100 million at a valuation of about $700 million, according to three people familiar with the matter. The money will fund an effort to design graphics chips that compete with Nvidia and Advanced Micro Devices (AMD).
What's the endgame? Unlike Nvidia and AMD, which have poured billions into AI hardware, BoltDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → is targeting non-AI areas such as the high-precision calculations supercomputers perform and graphics for videogames. It plans to focus first on professional markets — 3D artists and game developers — before expanding into gaming GPUs.
This week, Bolt completed the first round of testing for its Zeus GPU architecture, designed for physics simulation. The chip targets scientific computing, chip design, and professional rendering, including high-precision FP64 calculations, and will be produced on Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing CoDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →'s process.
Why now? AI investment has dominated the chip industry this year.
What could go wrong? Building a videogame chip is complex because of the software needed to support the thousands of titles new hardware must run. The round will also test whether investors have the appetite to back chip startups tackling problems outside AI.
Chief executive officer Darwesh Singh declined to comment on terms but said the fundraising is "well under way." The round is ongoing, and the amount and valuation could change; ReutersDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → could not learn which investors were leading it.
The signal: Over the past 10 years, venture firms have been reluctant to back chip startups because of the high costs and long timelines involved — Bolt has worked on its hardware for roughly six years. A successful raise would suggest investor appetite extends beyond the AI products that have absorbed most of the sector's capital.
Read more: Reuters
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