Delos Data, a chip startup founded by former Intel veterans, has raised $100 million to develop chips and software designed to improve how data moves between processors in increasingly complex artificial intelligence data centers, Reuters reported Tuesday.
The funding comes as AI infrastructure companies look beyond Nvidia’s dominant position in graphics processing units and networking technology, with demand growing for systems that can connect large numbers of chips efficiently.
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Delos Data is developing networking technology intended to work across different combinations of computing hardware rather than being tied to a single chip architecture. The company said its approach could help address growing data-transfer demands as AI systems become larger and more complicated.
Co-founder and Chief Technology Officer Dan Daly said the company’s goal is to provide faster and more flexible movement of data across AI infrastructure. Efficient communication between chips has become increasingly important as data centers deploy larger clusters of processors to train and operate AI models.
The company was founded by veterans of Intel, one of the world’s largest semiconductor companies. Former Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger, who is also a partner at venture capital firm Playground, participated as an investor in Delos Data’s latest funding round.
Gelsinger said inefficient communication between chips can increase both energy consumption and costs, highlighting a growing challenge for AI data centers as computing requirements expand.
The funding round included Matrix Partners, Playground, Socratic Partners, Capricorn, Matter Venture Partners, IAG and DYNAMIQ, according to Reuters.
Competition expands beyond Nvidia
Nvidia remains the leading supplier of AI accelerators and networking technology, but the AI hardware market is becoming more competitive as companies seek alternatives and complementary technologies.
Cerebras Systems and AMD are among the companies gaining ground in AI computing, while Nvidia itself has expanded its portfolio beyond GPUs to include networking and other components needed to build large AI systems.
The rise of specialized chip and networking startups reflects the broader expansion of AI infrastructure spending. Investors have continued to provide substantial capital to companies developing chips for AI training, inference and data center networking.
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Delos Data’s funding also comes amid growing scrutiny of the enormous investment required to build AI infrastructure. Reuters reported Tuesday that investors have become increasingly concerned about the possibility of a slowdown in AI-related capital spending, even as companies continue to commit heavily to data centers and semiconductors.
For Delos Data, the immediate opportunity is to address a less visible but increasingly important part of AI infrastructure: moving information efficiently between the chips that power AI workloads. As AI data centers scale, networking performance and energy efficiency are becoming critical factors alongside raw computing power.