Retym, a U.S.-based semiconductor startup with Israeli origins, has successfully raised $75 million in a Series D funding round led by James Kuklinski of Spark Capital. This latest investment brings the company’s total funding to $180 million, with continued support from existing investors, including Mayfield’s Navin Chaddha and Kleiner Perkins’ Mamoon Hamid.
Founded in 2021, Retym has maintained a low profile until recently, when it announced this significant funding milestone. The company’s Chief Technology Officer and co-founder, Roni El-Bahar, shared insights into Retym’s mission, emphasizing the need to introduce competition into the digital signal processing (DSP) market, which has traditionally been dominated by a few large semiconductor firms.
Retym is developing a novel programmable coherent DSP chip designed to enhance data transmission speeds within and between data centers. This innovation is particularly timely, given the exponential growth of artificial intelligence (AI) applications that demand rapid and efficient data movement across extensive networks of interconnected chips.
The company’s inaugural chip targets data transmission distances ranging from 10 to 120 kilometers, with optimal performance between 30 and 40 kilometers. Utilizing advanced modulation techniques, the chip ensures data integrity over these distances. Manufactured using Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co.’s (TSMC) cutting-edge five-nanometer process, the chip is currently undergoing testing and validation.
Retym’s entry into the DSP market positions it as a challenger to established industry leaders like Marvell Technology. By addressing critical bottlenecks in data center connectivity, Retym aims to meet the escalating demands of AI infrastructure and cloud computing.
With plans to launch its first product later this year, Retym is poised to make a significant impact on the efficiency and performance of data centers worldwide.
