AI networking chip startup nEye Systems raises $58 million, led by Alphabet's CapitalG fund
By Stephen Nellis
SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - NEye Systems, a startup developing a new kind of networking chip for artificial intelligence data centers, on Thursday raised $58 million in venture financing in a round led by CapitalG, a growth-stage fund backed by Alphabet.
Emeryville, California-based nEye is developing a chip that taps optical technology to send information between AI chips in the form of light rather than electrical signals, a field that chip giants such as Nvidia and startups alike are chasing because it could lower energy use for AI data centers.
But energy efficiency is only part of nEye's goal. The startup is focusing on a type of chip called an optical circuit switch, which allows the owner of a data center to change how its computers are connected on the fly.
That can help improve the data center's performance by selecting the best way to string computers together based on whatever software it happens to be running. Alphabet's Google used such chips several years ago to construct an AI supercomputer that it claimed beat Nvidia's then-current offerings, but its chips were proprietary and not available to the wider market.
NEye is now taking that concept and developing a chip for the rest of the market.
"Google is a pioneer. They led the way," said Ming Wu, one of the firm's co-founders and also a professor at University of California Berkeley. "Other AI companies, other hyperscaler AI data center operators, they will be looking to acquire some of this technology rather than developing it themselves."
Neye has made prototype chips and expects to have samples of production chips next year but has not disclosed when it expects to ship in large volumes.
James Luo, the general partner at CapitalG who led the investment, said that even if the current AI data center boom does not last, the nEye chip's advantages in energy efficiency and flexibility also apply to more traditional data centers.
"The beauty of it is as applicable to both models," Lou said.
NEye has raised $72.5 million to date, and its other investors include M12, Microsoft's venture fund, Micron Technology, and Nvidia, among others.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
29 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Elon Musk biographer says major Tesla merger could be imminent: 'I think it's going to happen'
Could Tesla eventually merge with another of Elon Musk's companies, xAI? A prominent insider thinks such a move is increasingly likely. Walter Isaacson, the prominent Musk biographer who has received unprecedented access to Tesla's CEO, recently said he expects the two companies to eventually merge, Not a Tesla App reported. During a CNBC interview, Isaacson said combining Tesla and xAI would ultimately better serve each company's mission. "I think it's going to happen," Isaacson said, per "Because Musk, even in my book when he's starting xAI, [was] talking about [how] these chatbots are fine, but what you need is real-world AI. You need to be able to not only take all the texts and tweets that have ever been written, but all the videos from Teslas and all the Optimus robot [is] seeing and hearing." Tesla was a pioneer in electric vehicles and still has the top-selling vehicles in the space — although its sales numbers have dipped this year. But Musk has repeatedly said that the future of the company is tied in more than just cars, including "vast numbers of autonomous humanoid robots." That makes xAI seem like a natural partner for Tesla. It is behind the artificial intelligence assistant Grok, which will reportedly power Tesla's upcoming smart assistant. Musk has also said he expects Grok to be incorporated into Tesla's Optimus humanoid robots, with hopes of sending them to Mars in the near future. In May, Musk said in a CNBC interview, per Business Insider, that "there are no plans" to merge the companies, but that "it's not out of the question." Tesla's sales may have had a bumpy start to the year, but there's no denying the role it has played in bringing millions of cleaner cars onto roads around the world. Studies have shown that driving an EV can reduce carbon pollution by two-thirds compared to gas-powered cars. EVs can be even greener when paired with a renewable energy source for charging, such as solar. In addition, if you have solar panels, that energy is considerably cheaper than relying on the grid or public charging stations. EnergySage allows homeowners to save thousands on solar-panel installation costs by comparing quotes from local, vetted installers. And if the upfront costs of solar are too daunting, Palmetto's LightReach program allows people to lease solar panels, providing locked-in, low energy rates, and a lower carbon footprint, with no down payment. Do you think electric vehicles are efficient enough to replace gas cars? Totally Definitely not They're almost there They need a lot more work Click your choice to see results and speak your mind. Join our free newsletter for good news and useful tips, and don't miss this cool list of easy ways to help yourself while helping the planet.
Hypebeast
an hour ago
- Hypebeast
HAVEN's Summer 2025 Collection Centers on the Pacific Northwest's Terrain
Vancouver-based labelHAVENhas unveiled a coastal campaign for its Summer 2025 collection, returning with a capsule of essentials designed for the warm days and cool nights of Summer in the Pacific Northwest. Utilizing cotton-linen gabardines, Japan denim, and lightweight Super 140s wool, the label offers a range of core garments characterized by the label's functional, minimalist ethos. HAVEN opts for a light and neutral color palette inspired by the woodland coast of Vancouver, led by tones of beige, sage green, brown, off-white, and indigo. The collection is anchored by matching linen gabardine sets, comprising a work jacket that reinterprets the classic military BDU (battle dress uniform) garments. Offered in a dark brown and beige colorway, the jacket's ergonomic tailoring and underarm gussets elevate the utilitarian design with contemporary elegance. In indigo and white, Japanese linen denim shirts and trousers offer a cooling feel and soft hand. The denim Helix Pant features twisted side seams for a sculpted fit and added mobility, and functional details, like slant hand pockets, storm welt back pockets, and snap-adjustable waist tabs. HAVEN tops the collection off with wool Summer shirting, including wool versions of the aforementioned denim shirts in beige, green, and brown checks. Utilizing Super 140s wool, known for its ultra-fine quality, the collection also offers short-sleeve camp collar shirts in the same three colorways. See the gallery above for a closer look at the campaign. HAVEN's Summer 2025 Delivery 1 is out now at the brand'swebsiteand physical store.
Yahoo
2 hours ago
- Yahoo
Valve does its homework the night before deadline: Switches Steam to run on Mac chips right as Apple announces it's ditching Intel for good
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. I've said it before and I'll say it again: my 2020 MacBook Air is the best gaming laptop I've ever owned. Not because it can run anything I throw at it (it can't) or because it's some ungodly-powerful slab of RGB (it's not). But it runs everything I want it to run—Infinity Engine RPGs, KOTOR 1 and 2, things of that nature—silently and with battery life out the wazoo. It does that because it's one of the first bits of Apple kit to use the megacorp's own, bespoke ARM line of M-series CPUs, breaking a dependence on Intel chips going all the way back to 2006. Which is neat, but there was a problem—damn near every app out there is built to work on x86 chips like Intel's, and not ARM. Apple solved that little issue with a thing called Rosetta 2, which effectively translated x86 apps to ARM on the fly when you tried to run them on ARM-based Macs. But nothing gold can stay: at this year's WWDC, Apple quietly pointed out to devs that, two macOS generations from now, Rosetta would pretty much be going the way of the dodo. Devs would have to make their apps ARM-native or sling their hook. Which brings us to Steam. Valve being Valve—and macOS making up an absolutely infinitesimal percentage of overall Steam users—it never bothered to create an Apple Silicon-native version of Steam in all these past five years. Until yesterday. With Apple suddenly putting a time limit on how long devs could rely on Rosetta, Valve has gotten its act together and released an ARM version of Steam as part of yesterday's Steam client beta. Gotta be honest, it's very relatable. It reminds me of all the university essays I scrambled to write the night before they were due. I imagine Gabe sitting on his yacht, watching Apple's coiffed execs intro WWDC, suddenly sitting bolt upright as he realises they forgot to make Steam run on modern Macs. The Apple-native version of Steam is currently only available in beta, which you can swap to by heading to your preferences, then Interface, then selecting the beta version of Steam from a drop-down menu. It works well! In my very limited (10 minutes or so) of mucking about with it, I've had better luck getting the Steam Overlay to work and game recording seems to actually function now (albeit without game audio, because Apple makes it borderline impossible to record system audio on Macs for some reason) which wasn't the case last time I messed with those features—which was admittedly a few updates ago. Anyway, the perhaps dozens of people playing Steam games on Mac can heave a sigh of relief. For a minute there, I wondered if Valve would bother to update Steam for Apple Silicon at all. Macs are a tiny fragment of its audience and Apple Silicon users are a tiny fragment of that. I'm glad Gabe still cares enough about those of us who love overpaying for hardware to keep things in working order. 2025 games: This year's upcoming releasesBest PC games: Our all-time favoritesFree PC games: Freebie festBest FPS games: Finest gunplayBest RPGs: Grand adventuresBest co-op games: Better together
