MatX Secures $500 Million to Revolutionize AI Processing and Challenge Nvidia’s Dominance
In a significant development within the artificial intelligence (AI) hardware sector, MatX, a pioneering chip startup established by former Google hardware engineers, has successfully raised $500 million in a Series B funding round. This substantial investment was spearheaded by Jane Street and Situational Awareness, an investment fund founded by ex-OpenAI researcher Leopold Aschenbrenner. The funding round also saw participation from notable investors such as Marvell Technology, NFDG, Spark Capital, and Stripe co-founders Patrick and John Collison, as announced by MatX’s founder and CEO, Reiner Pope, on LinkedIn.
MatX’s ambitious objective is to develop processors that are ten times more efficient in training large language models (LLMs) and delivering results compared to Nvidia’s current GPU offerings. This goal positions MatX as a formidable competitor in the AI hardware landscape, challenging Nvidia’s longstanding dominance.
The company’s journey began in 2023 when Reiner Pope, who previously led AI software development for Google’s Tensor Processing Units (TPUs), joined forces with Mike Gunter, a lead designer of TPU hardware at Google. Together, they founded MatX with the vision of addressing the growing demand for more efficient AI processing hardware.
Prior to this latest funding round, MatX had secured approximately $100 million in a Series A round led by Spark Capital in 2024, which valued the company at over $300 million. The recent Series B funding marks a significant leap in the company’s financial backing, reflecting strong investor confidence in MatX’s potential to disrupt the AI chip market.
While MatX has not disclosed its current valuation, it’s noteworthy that its closest competitor, Etched, recently raised a $500 million round at a $5 billion valuation, as reported by Bloomberg. This context underscores the competitive and rapidly evolving nature of the AI hardware industry.
The infusion of new capital will enable MatX to collaborate with Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) for chip production, with plans to commence shipments in 2027. This partnership is crucial for scaling production and meeting the anticipated demand for advanced AI processors.
The AI hardware sector has witnessed a surge in investments and valuations, driven by the escalating demand for efficient AI processing capabilities. For instance, Groq, another AI chip startup, raised $640 million in August 2024, achieving a valuation of $2.8 billion. Similarly, Speedata, a Tel Aviv-based startup, secured a $44 million Series B funding round in June 2025 to develop its analytics processing unit designed to accelerate big data analytics and AI workloads.
MatX’s strategic focus on enhancing the efficiency of AI model training and inference aligns with the broader industry trend of seeking specialized hardware solutions to meet the computational demands of modern AI applications. By aiming to outperform existing GPU technologies, MatX is positioning itself as a key player in the next generation of AI hardware.
The involvement of high-profile investors and industry veterans in MatX’s funding rounds reflects a strong belief in the company’s vision and technological capabilities. As the AI landscape continues to evolve, the success of companies like MatX will be pivotal in shaping the future of AI processing and its applications across various sectors.
