$10 billion startup gets SK Hynix backing to build a transformer that does just one thing but exceedingly well

• Etched reached a $10.3 billion valuation after securing fresh SK Hynix backing
• The startup built custom processors specifically for demanding AI inference workloads
• Etched says conventional GPUs waste power during many inference tasks today

Etched, a US-based AI chip startup, has secured fresh backing from SK Hynix as it hits a $10.3 billion valuation while pursuing processors built specifically for inference workloads.

The company argues that conventional GPUs deliver more computational capability than many inference tasks require, yet offer insufficient memory for increasingly demanding AI models.

Its latest funding will support the production of rack-scale inference systems designed around custom chips, shared memory, and lower power consumption, rather than general-purpose graphics processors.

Etched bets custom inference chips can outperform traditional GPUs

Founded by former Harvard students Gavin Uberti, Robert Wachen, and Chris Zhu, Etched focuses exclusively on AI inference rather than training large language models.

The startup says its...

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