Member of Technical Staff, Etched

It’s a gamble, the founders themselves know that if transformers become obsolete, so will their AI-powering product. The SOHU chip that Etched builds differs from GPUs in that it has the AI architecture etched into the chip itself. General Processing Units are “general” and costly, so Etched is betting on specialised transformers taking their place in the near future.

Investors are drawn to Etched’s boldness. The 2022-founded company achieved $120 million in Series A funding just two years into its life, and received a further $500 million at the start of 2026. Etched plans to use this to amp up its competition with GPU company Nvidia, and claims to be 20 times faster than the latter’s AI-powered general processor - and significantly less costly too. Time will tell if Etched’s exciting and potentially revolutionary bet on tailored AI chips and transformers pays off.