CMU Chip Startup Raises $97M, Ships First AI Chips
CMU Chip Startup Raises $97M, Ships First AI Chips Every few years, someone in computing declares the Von Neumann architecture dead. The pitch rarely survives contact with the real world: data-flow chips, which let information course through a chip instead of endlessly shuttling it between memory and processor, have haunted academic papers for decades without ever cracking the mainstream. The machines are hard to program, hard to sell, and brutal to manufacture at scale. Now a Pittsburgh startup spun out of Carnegie Mellon University wants to be the exception — and unlike most of its predecessors, it arrived at its big funding announcement with actual silicon in customers' hands. Efficient Computer said Tuesday it has raised $97 million in Series B financing at a $650 million valuation, bringing its total funding to $173 million. The round was led by TQ Ventures, with Eclipse, Union Square Ventures, Giant Ventures, Triatomic Capital, TO Capital, TF Capital, Mana Ventures, Toy...