close
close

Reno AI -based chip startup Positron raises $ 23.5 million, puts landmarks at NVIDIA – Reno Gazette Journal

Reno AI -based chip startup Positron raises $ 23.5 million, puts landmarks at NVIDIA – Reno Gazette Journal


Renault Positron AI, which works on its second generation AI chips, deals with costs and efficiency to take a market share from NVIDIA.

The launch of Reno, which specializes in artificial intelligence chips, has just raised millions in new funding as it seeks to give up the dominance of the NVIDIA market leader in the sector.

Renault Positron AI announced on Tuesday that it had raised $ 23.5 million. The company, which is an emerging player in the internal semiconductor and AI technological space, has received funding from Nevada -based risk capital Flume Ventures.

The last round of fundraising “will allow us to grow our operations in Nevada,” Positron CEO Mitesh Agraval told The Reno Gazette Journal.

“It’s not just about getting on the market with our second -generation product next year, but also about hiring talent … and research and development.”

The AI ​​Global Market, which includes players such as Tech Giants Microsoft, Google, Meta and Amazon, is expected to contribute to $ 15.7 trillion to the global economy by 2030, according to the PWC global intelligence company.

Positron’s success will be good not only for Renault, but for the whole country, said Doug Erwin, Edawn’s senior vice president.

“Nevada has all the right ingredients to become a global AI and a semiconductor power plant,” Erwin says in a statement. “Positron’s success emphasizes the benefits of building and scathing in innovative technology companies in a condition that actively supports the growth, investment and industry of the next generation.”

What is Positron AI?

Founded in 2023 by Thomas Somers, Positron AI builds chips and AI load systems.

Positron products are used to accelerate large -scale AI computing models whose applications include machine learning and generative AI. The company’s products, for example, work well with AI loads such as large linguistic models, similar to those that feed chat.

The company has already delivered its first-generation Atlas Chips customers that include cloud companies and online games for an important feat for a company that has just started a few years ago, according to Agrawal.

The company also views a junneut in AI’s technological space as the main goal of acquired a market share.

“Everyone knows about Nvidia,” Agraval said. “Everything is managed in the nvidia ecosystem.”

What is NVIDIA?

NVIDIA is an American technology company that was founded in 1993.

The company started with a specialized in 3D graphics, in particular its application in games and multimedia. NVIDIA then came out with its first graphics block for processing or GPU, which has since become a major element for PC Gaming and has also been used by large -scale loading data centers.

Since then, Nvidia has branched in artificial intelligence, entering the field in 2012. The decision allowed the company to create a dominant beach head in the AI ​​space thanks to its early status of AI chip movement.

NVIDIA’s shares tripled within a year in 2024, joking from $ 49 in January of the same year to $ 147 to mid-November, to a large extent due to its dominance in AI chips.

Agrawal, however, believes that there are opportunities to start such as Positron to reach a business, despite NVIDIA’s predominant domination in AI.

At the top of the list is the price.

“From our point of view, a distinctive factor is that (positron chips) are really optimized to perform intense AI loads, with large language models working more efficiently,” Agraral said. “Our models are more effective in terms of dollar and watt performance.”

In addition to its hardware, Positron software is also designed to make its products compatible with existing NVIDIA systems used by potential customers. According to Agrawal, this gives positron an advantage over other potential rivals who want to grab a market share of NVIDIA.

“People who already work (NVIDIA) code should not make a change of code,” Agraval said.

Positron sees an increased focus on US production as a positive for the company

Positron emphasized that his chips are completely common and do not use any parts of NVIDIA.

In addition, while the company is working with Intel Spinoff Company Altera for its first generation of chips, its second -generation product will be our own design, Agrawal said.

With the ongoing political and economic change, so that there are more things received or done in the United States, as Pandemia, Positron often betrays its good faith as an American company.

The company will still need to use the services of manufacturers such as TSMC, Samsung or Intel – which all have foundry abroad and within the United States – for some of its parts. However, the production of the finished product is done internally.

“We are here in America,” Agraval said. “This is a big part of our story.”

Positron also plans to expand his presence in Nevada, including hiring and relocating key staff in the country.

Although Agrawal and founder Somers are based in Renault, most of the company’s 21 employees work outside the state near Seattle and Austin.

“The founding team is striving to move here,” Agraval said. “We finalize an office here in Renault.”

Positron also plans to increase its staff to about 35 to 40 people this year, and then double the number afterwards.

The company’s plans to use its newly acquired funding to grow the company in Nevada was welcomed by government Joe Lombardo.

“This investment not only strengthens our country’s position in the growing industry, but also brings high -paying jobs and economic growth in our region,” Lombardo says in a statement.

Asked if there were concerns about a potential AI balloon, Agrawal expressed optimism about the growth of the sector. While Agrawal acknowledges that he comes with a “very biased perspective” given his position in the industry, he added that so far researchers and companies have scratched the surface of what is possible with AI.

“AI growth curve will continue and we will (within the industry) to understand how to use it,” Agraval said.

As for the place of the positron within this industry and its chances of AI Giants such as NVIDIA, Agrawal pointed out what the company has achieved with small staff in just a short time.

“We have received our first product to market within the first 15 months of its founding,” Agraval said. “We are a very small company, but even with that small amount of people, we have already brought out a product that is there.”

“We are a very young startup that grows rapidly,” Agraval added.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *