New Israeli Chip Firm Axonica Raises $50 Million for AI Inference
Translated & summarized from Globes by baba
Israeli chip startup Axonica, founded in June, is attracting significant investor interest for its planned AI inference chip. The company, led by former Qualcomm executive Assaf Tubul, has already raised $50 million and aims to offer a more cost-effective and power-efficient alternative to existing solutions. The funding round, led by major US and Israeli venture capital firms, could reach up to $80 million. Axonica's focus on the inference stage of AI processing is seen as a key area for future market competition.
The story in 5 lines · by baba
- New Israeli chip company Axonica has raised $50 million for its AI inference chip development.
- The company aims to provide a cheaper and more power-efficient alternative to Nvidia's processors.
- Axonica is led by former Qualcomm executive Assaf Tubul and has 20 employees.
- The funding round, led by US and Israeli venture capital firms, could reach $80 million.
- Axonica is focusing on the AI inference stage, seen as a key area for future competition.
Axonica, a new chip company founded in Herzliya Pituah in June, is generating significant interest from venture capital investors. The company aims to develop an innovative chip for running artificial intelligence models and agents during the inference stage, potentially offering substantial cost and power savings compared to Nvidia's graphics processors. Axonica also intends to compete with Cerebras Systems, an American chip company.
Despite having only 20 employees, including ten with PhDs, Axonica has already raised $50 million. Due to high investor demand, CEO and Founder Assaf Tubul has opened the funding round to additional investors, with the potential to reach $80 million. The round is led by prominent US funds Amplify Partners, Wing VC, and Qualcomm Ventures, alongside Israeli funds Pitango, Viola, and 10D.
Tubul, a former senior executive at Qualcomm, previously led the development of low-power analog AI chips and other AI technologies. He has structured Axonica as an international entity with a US incorporation, a development center in Herzliya Pituah, and a registered company in London.
The excitement surrounding Axonica comes amid fluctuations in the global and local chip market. Investors see potential in companies challenging Nvidia's dominance, especially after Cerebras experienced a sharp stock decline post-IPO. The sector has seen recent setbacks, including the dissolution of other promising chip companies.
There is a growing understanding among investors that while AI application business models are still evolving, the chip industry is benefiting from surging demand. This is driving growth for companies like Nvidia and AMD, even as their clients incur heavy losses and cloud giants take on significant debt for chip acquisitions and server farms. Many investors believe future competition will focus on energy-efficient processors for AI agent operation, rather than new model training, with companies like Groq, Cerebras, and SambaNova focusing on the inference stage.