MatX Raises $500M Series B to Challenge Nvidia’s AI Chip Dominance

MatX Raises $500M Series B to Challenge Nvidia's AI Chip Dominance

MatX, an AI chip startup founded by two former Google hardware engineers, has secured $500 million in Series B funding led by Jane Street and Situational Awareness (an investment fund formed by former OpenAI researcher Leopold Aschenbrenner), the company announced Tuesday.

The round also includes backing from Marvell Technology, NFDG, Spark Capital, and Stripe co-founders Patrick and John Collison. MatX aims to build processors 10 times better than Nvidia's GPUs for training large language models and inference.

The funding comes more than a year after MatX's Series A round of approximately $100 million, led by Spark Capital. The company did not disclose its current valuation, though competitor Etched raised $500 million at a $5 billion valuation last month, according to Bloomberg.

Why it matters: For CFOs evaluating AI infrastructure spend, MatX's momentum signals intensifying competition in GPU alternatives—potentially affecting long-term vendor lock-in assumptions and capex planning for AI workloads. The Stripe founders' participation suggests serious enterprise credibility backing the technology.

What's next: Watch for MatX's product timeline and early customer announcements, which will determine whether this funding translates to actual market share gains against entrenched Nvidia dominance.