From TechCrunch · Dominic-Madori Davis · · 1m 30s
Cornelis raises $205M to take on Nvidia
An Intel spinoff just landed $205 million betting that the way AI chips talk to each other is the weak spot in Nvidia's grip.
In brief
An Intel spinoff just landed $205 million betting that the way AI chips talk to each other is the weak spot in Nvidia's grip. Nvidia's moat is its full stack, not just its chips, so challengers are attacking the networking layer with open architecture instead of building a better GPU. Originally reported by TechCrunch.
A $205 million bet
Cornelis announced Monday it raised $205 million in a round led by IAG Capital Partners. The company builds networking tech that helps AI chips talk to each other faster.
GPUs spend too long waiting
Its new product, Active Compute Fabric, targets a specific waste: GPU time burned sitting idle while data is still in transit.
“much GPU time is wasted waiting for data to arrive”
Process and send at once
The fabric lets chips compute and move information simultaneously instead of stalling between steps, which is where the performance gain is supposed to come from.
Spun out of Intel
Cornelis separated from Intel in 2020. It is now going directly after Nvidia rather than serving as a component supplier inside someone else's stack.
Open beats locked-in
Cornelis sells an open architecture, so customers can mix GPUs and accelerators from different vendors on its fabric. Nvidia chips run best on Nvidia's own software, which keeps buyers inside its stack.
“making it much easier, and more enticing, for customers to use Nvidia's full GPU stack”
Already shipping, next gen coming
This is not a roadmap pitch. Cornelis has started shipping the product and expects a new generation later this year, part of a wave of startups chipping at Nvidia's dominance.
The one thing
Nvidia's moat is its full stack, not just its chips, so challengers are attacking the networking layer with open architecture instead of building a better GPU.
