Latest news with #MichaelLafferty
Yahoo
8 hours ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Snowcap Compute Launches with $23 Million Led by Playground Global to Power the Next Era of AI and Quantum Compute
Superconducting startup aims to expand the limits of silicon PALO ALTO, Calif., June 23, 2025--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Snowcap Compute, a startup building the first commercially viable superconducting compute platform, today launched with $23 million in seed funding led by Playground Global. Engineered for extreme performance and energy efficiency, Snowcap's architecture enables a new class of data centers optimized for AI, quantum, and high-performance computing (HPC). The platform delivers the performance and efficiency needed to power advanced AI inference and training, as well as HPC and quantum-classical hybrid workloads. "We're building compute systems for the edge of what's physically possible," said Michael Lafferty, CEO, Snowcap. "Superconducting logic lets us push beyond the limits of existing CMOS technology, achieving orders-of-magnitude gains in processing speed and efficiency. That performance is essential for the future of AI and quantum computing." Snowcap is led by an exceptional team of silicon industry veterans with extensive scientific, technical and operational experience. In addition to Lafferty, whose tenure as director of Cadence's "More than Moore" engineering group focused on pioneering superconducting and quantum technologies, the founding team includes Chief Science Officer Anna Herr, Ph.D., and Chief Technology Officer Quentin Herr, Ph.D., who are globally recognized as the foremost researchers in practical superconducting computers with key roles at Northrop Grumman and imec. Joining Mike, Anna, and Quentin is a roster of deep tech Silicon Valley veterans, including advisors Brian Kelleher, former SVP of GPU engineering at NVIDIA, and Phil Carmack, former VP of silicon engineering at Google. "Snowcap represents a rare opportunity to realize dramatic performance and power efficiency gains," said Pat Gelsinger, General Partner at Playground Global and Chair of the Board at Snowcap. "Reimagining a post-CMOS world from the ground up with the most capable and experienced team in superconducting technology is exactly the kind of breakthrough that Playground was built to enable. The implications for AI, quantum and HPC are both thrilling and profound." Built on decades of research and development, Snowcap's platform is engineered to support next-generation quantum and low-temperature compute systems, enabling exceptional speed, efficiency and low latency. Snowcap has also solved the key engineering challenges that have prevented superconducting technology from reaching broad commercialization in the past, including scaling, fab compatibility, EDA challenges, and system architecture issues. Joining Playground in this seed round are Cambium Capital, which specializes in compute and deep tech investments, and Vsquared Ventures, a European firm with a strong track record in international semiconductor investing. About Snowcap Snowcap is building the first commercially viable superconducting compute platform — designed to deliver dramatic gains in speed and energy efficiency for AI, quantum, and high-performance computing. Founded by a team of experts in superconducting logic, digital architectures, and systems engineering, Snowcap is rethinking classical compute for the age of cryo and quantum infrastructure. Learn more at About Playground Global Playground Global is a deep tech venture capital firm with $1.2 billion under management, backing early-stage startups solving foundational challenges in next-generation compute, automation, energy transition, and engineered biology. Founded in 2015 and based in Palo Alto, Playground partners closely with technical and scientific founders to turn breakthrough ideas into lasting companies. Portfolio highlights include PsiQuantum, MosaicML (acquired by Databricks), d-Matrix, Agility Robotics, Ideon, Ultima Genomics, and Strand Therapeutics. Learn more at View source version on Contacts Steve Smithssmith@
Time of India
13 hours ago
- Business
- Time of India
Snowcap Compute raises $23 million for superconducting AI chips
Snowcap Compute , a startup working on building artificial intel ligence computing chips using superconducting technology, on Monday raised $23 million and said that the former CEO of Intel will join its board. Snowcap aims to build computers that could one day beat today's best artificial intelligence systems, while using a fraction of the electricity. To do that, Snowcap plans to use a new kind of chip made with superconductors , which are materials that allow current to flow without electrical resistance. Scientists understand superconductors well and have theorized about making computer chips with them since at least the 1990s, but have faced a major challenge: To work, the chips need to be kept very cold in cryogenic coolers which themselves consume a lot of electricity. For decades that made superconductor chips a nonstarter, until AI chatbots ignited huge demand for computing power at the same time that conventional chips are hitting the limits of how much performance they can wring from every watt of power and are taxing electricity grids. Nvidia 's forthcoming "Rubin Ultra" AI data center server due in 2027, for example, is expected to consume about 600 kilowatts of power. That means operating that single server at full capacity for one hour would consume about two thirds the average power that a US house uses in a month. In that kind of changed world, dedicating a portion of a data center's power needs to cryogenic coolers makes sense if the performance gains are good enough, said Michael Lafferty, Snowcap's CEO, who formerly oversaw work on futuristic chips at Cadence Design Systems. Snowcap believes that even after accounting for energy used in cooling, its chips will be about 25 times better than today's best chips in terms of performance per watt. "Power (efficiency) is nice, but performance sells," Lafferty said. "So we're pushing the performance level way up and pulling the power down at the same time." Snowcap's founding team includes two scientists - Anna Herr and Quentin Herr - who have done extensive work on superconducting chips at chip industry research firm Imed and defense firm Northrop Grumman, as well as former chip executives from Nvidia and Alphabet's Google. While the chips can be made in a standard factory, they will require an exotic metal called niobium titanium nitride that Lafferty said depends on Brazil and Canada for key ingredients. Snowcap plans its first basic chip by the end of 2026, but full systems will not come until later. Despite the long development timeline, Pat Gelsinger , Intel's former CEO who led the investment for venture firm Playground Global and is joining Snowcap's board, said the computing industry needs a sharp break from its current trajectory of consuming ever more electricity. "A lot of data centers today are just being limited by power availability," Gelsinger said. Also joining the funding round were Cambium Capital and Vsquared Ventures.
The Star
16 hours ago
- Business
- The Star
Snowcap Compute raises $23 million for superconducting AI chips
SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) -Snowcap Compute, a startup working on building artificial intelligence computing chips using superconducting technology, on Monday raised $23 million and said that the former CEO of Intel will join its board. Snowcap aims to build computers that could one day beat today's best artificial intelligence systems, while using a fraction of the electricity. To do that, Snowcap plans to usea new kind of chip made with superconductors, which are materials that allow current to flow without electrical resistance. Scientists understand superconductors well and have theorized about making computer chips with them since at least the 1990s, but have faced a major challenge: To work, the chips need to be kept very cold in cryogenic coolers which themselves consume a lot of electricity. For decades that made superconductor chips a nonstarter, until AI chatbots ignited huge demand for computing power at the same time that conventional chips are hitting the limits of how much performance they can wring from every watt of power and are taxing electricitygrids. Nvidia's forthcoming "Rubin Ultra" AI data center server due in 2027, for example, is expected to consume about 600 kilowatts of power. That means operating that single server at full capacity for one hour would consume about two thirds the average power that a U.S. house uses in a month. In that kind of changed world, dedicating a portion of a data center's power needs to cryogenic coolers makes sense if the performancegains are good enough, said Michael Lafferty, Snowcap's CEO, who formerly oversaw work on futuristic chips at Cadence Design Systems. Snowcap believes that even after accounting for energy used in cooling, its chips will be about 25 times better than today's best chips in terms of performance per watt. "Power (efficiency) is nice, but performance sells," Lafferty said. "So we're pushing the performance level way up and pulling the power down at the same time." Snowcap's founding team includes two scientists - Anna Herr and Quentin Herr - who have done extensive work on superconducting chips at chip industry research firm Imed and defense firm Northrop Grumman, as well as former chip executives from Nvidia and Alphabet's Google. While the chips can be made in a standard factory, theywill require an exotic metal called niobium titanium nitride that Lafferty said depends on Brazil and Canada for key ingredients. Snowcap plans its first basic chip by the end of 2026, but full systems will not come until later. Despite the long development timeline, Pat Gelsinger, Intel's former CEO who led the investment for venture firm Playground Global and is joining Snowcap's board, said the computing industry needs a sharp break from its current trajectory of consuming ever more electricity. "A lot of data centers today are just being limited by power availability," Gelsinger said. Also joining the funding round were Cambium Capital and Vsquared Ventures. (Reporting by Stephen Nellis in San Francisco; Editing by Christopher Cushing)
