- Etched is a startup that builds AI hardware systems based on its own designed AI chips. Recently, after receiving an investment at a valuation of 7 billion dollars from a 210 billion dollar valuation, the company is now reviewing investment offers ranging between 400 billion and 500 billion dollars within 2 to 3 months.
- The company has developed a proprietary chip that claims superiority over Nvidia in terms of AI processing speed and cost, based on statements from co-founder and COO Robert Weichen.
- Jane Street, a high-frequency trading firm, is both an investor and a customer. Etched operates a 10 megawatt scale data center in Silicon Valley and production partnership facilities in Taiwan.
- Out of approximately 400 total employees, about 15% are former Nvidia personnel. Through competitive talent acquisition and successive large-scale investments, the company plans to secure up to 3.5 years of operational funds.
It's remarkable that Etched is recruiting key personnel from Nvidia, such as 15%, and operating its own data centers and production facilities in Taiwan. It'll be interesting to see how this infrastructure actually contributes to chip performance and production stability, as well as how rapid valuation changes influence future investment terms.