Which startups have raised the most funding in the semiconductor industry?
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In our semiconductor industry deck, you will find everything you need to understand the market
This is a constantly updated ranking of the top startups in the semiconductor industry, sorted by total cumulative funding raised.
We track over 90 semiconductor companies spanning memory, foundry services, AI chips, power electronics, connectivity, and more.
We update this list every month to reflect the latest semiconductor funding rounds, IPOs, and acquisitions.
And if you want to better understand this new industry, you can download our pitch covering the semiconductor industry.
A quick summary table
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| Most funded semiconductor startup | ChangXin Memory Technologies ($4.9B) |
| Second most funded semiconductor startup | Hua Hong Semiconductor ($3.3B) |
| Largest single semiconductor funding round | Hua Hong Semiconductor ($3.0B, STAR Market IPO) |
| Median semiconductor startup funding | ~$300M |
| Share of funding captured by the top 10 | ~50% |
| Median time since last funding round | ~22 months |
| Semiconductor startups that raised in the last 12 months | 33 out of 91 |
| Semiconductor startups that reached IPO | 34 out of 91 |
| Acquired semiconductor startups | 15 out of 91 |
| AI-focused chip startups in the top 20 | ~50% |
In our semiconductor industry deck, we show you long-term trends so you can make better decisions
Top startups in the semiconductor industry ranked by total funding raised
Here is an updated table that ranks the top startups in the semiconductor industry based on the total amount of funding they have raised to date.
The table also includes the total number of funding rounds, the date and size of the latest round, the financing type (e.g. Series A, equity financing), key investors, the startup's current status (active, IPO, acquired, or shut down), and a confidence score based on the data collected (we excluded startups with very low data confidence, to make sure everything is reliable).
If you're interested in knowing how much these startups are worth, you can check our list of the top startups in the semiconductor industry ranked by valuation.
| # | Startup | What They Do | Total Raised ($) | Total Rounds | Last Round Date | Last Round Amount ($) | Last Round Type | Key Investors | Current Stage | Confidence |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | ChangXin Memory Technologies | DRAM memory chip maker | $4.9B | 3 | March 2024 | $1.5B | Equity round | GigaDevice, CCB Financial, Hefei Industrial | Active | Strong |
| 2 | Hua Hong Semiconductor | Specialty wafer foundry | $3.3B | 2 | August 2023 | $3.0B | STAR Market IPO | China IC Fund II, SAIL | IPO | Strong |
| 3 | Horizon Robotics | ADAS and autonomous driving chips | $3.1B | 7 | October 2024 | $692M | IPO | Alibaba, Baidu, Merit France | IPO | Strong |
| 4 | Yangtze Memory Technologies | NAND flash memory maker | $3.1B | 2 | April 2025 | $1.3B | Equity round | ABC Financial, CCB Financial, China Internet Investment Fund | Active | Strong |
| 5 | GTA Semiconductor | Automotive/power chip foundry | $3.0B | 3 | September 2023 | $1.8B | Strategic financing | Huada Semiconductor, state/industry funds | Active | Partial |
| 6 | Cerebras Systems | Wafer-scale AI compute systems | $2.8B | 8 | February 2026 | $1.0B | Series H | Tiger Global, Fidelity, Atreides | Active | Strong |
| 7 | GlobalFoundries | Global semiconductor foundry | $2.8B | 2 | October 2021 | $1.4B | IPO | Mubadala | IPO | Partial |
| 8 | Moore Threads | Chinese GPU and AI chips | $2.4B | 8+ | December 2025 | $1.2B | IPO | Public market investors | IPO | Partial |
| 9 | Biren Technology | GPGPU chips for AI | $2.1B | 11 | January 2026 | $717M | IPO | UBS, Ping An, Lion Global | IPO | Full |
| 10 | Groq | AI inference chips and cloud | $1.9B | 5 | September 2025 | $750M | Series E | Disruptive, BlackRock, Neuberger Berman | Active | Strong |
| 11 | Nexchip | Display-driver wafer foundry | $1.8B | 2 | May 2023 | $1.4B | IPO | Public investors, Hefei state-backed | IPO | Strong |
| 12 | GigaDevice | Memory, MCU, sensor chips | $1.4B | 3 | January 2026 | $600M | Hong Kong IPO | Public market investors | IPO | Partial |
| 13 | Montage Technology | Interconnect and server chips | $1.4B | 3 | February 2026 | $902M | Hong Kong IPO | Public market investors | IPO | Strong |
| 14 | ASR Microelectronics | Cellular and IoT baseband chips | $1.3B | 5 | January 2022 | $956M | IPO | Alibaba, SCGC, IDG Capital | IPO | Partial |
| 15 | Tenstorrent | RISC-V AI compute hardware | $1.2B | 4+ | December 2024 | $693M | Series D | Samsung Securities, AFW Partners, LG Electronics | Active | Partial |
| 16 | Iluvatar CoreX | Cloud and AI GPU chips | $1.1B | 5+ | January 2026 | $475M | IPO | ZVCA, Hopu Fund, Centurium Capital | IPO | Partial |
| 17 | MetaX Integrated Circuits | Chinese AI GPU maker | $894M | 7+ | December 2025 | $596M | IPO | Public market investors | IPO | Partial |
| 18 | Ayar Labs | Optical interconnects for AI chips | $872M | 7 | March 2026 | $500M | Series E | Neuberger Berman, MediaTek, Qatar Investment Authority | Active | Strong |
| 19 | Astera Labs | AI data-center connectivity chips | $860M | 5 | March 2024 | $604M | IPO | Public investors | IPO | Strong |
| 20 | Lightmatter | Photonic AI interconnect and compute | $822M | 6 | October 2024 | $400M | Series D | T. Rowe Price, Fidelity, GV | Active | Strong |
| 21 | Graphcore | IPU chips for AI | $710M | 6 | December 2020 | $222M | Series E | Ontario Teachers', Fidelity International, Schroders | Acquired | Full |
| 22 | Bestechnic | Wireless ultra-low-power audio SoCs | $697M | 1 | December 2020 | $697M | STAR Market IPO | Public market investors | IPO | Partial |
| 23 | OmniVision | CMOS image sensor chips | $658M | 2 | January 2026 | $616M | Hong Kong IPO | Public market investors | IPO | Partial |
| 24 | MatX | AI training chips | $605M | 3 | February 2026 | $500M | Series B | Jane Street, Situational Awareness, Spark Capital | Active | Strong |
| 25 | Celestial AI | Optical interconnect for AI | $589M | 6 | August 2025 | $255M | Series C1 | Fidelity, BlackRock, Samsung Catalyst Fund | Acquired | Partial |
| 26 | Cambricon | AI accelerator chips | $569M | 3 | July 2020 | $369M | IPO | SDIC Venture Capital, Alibaba, Lenovo Capital | IPO | Strong |
| 27 | Ambiq | Ultra-low-power edge AI chips | $583M | 9 | July 2025 | $110M | IPO | BofA Securities, UBS | IPO | Full |
| 28 | Unisoc | Mobile and IoT SoCs | $552M | 1 | June 2024 | $552M | Private round | Gongying Capital, BOCOM FAI, PICC Capital | Active | Partial |
| 29 | GalaxyCore | CMOS sensors, display drivers | $515M | 1 | August 2021 | $515M | STAR Market IPO | Public market investors | IPO | Partial |
| 30 | Navitas Semiconductor | GaN and SiC power chips | $470M | 5 | August 2025 | $100M | Private Placement | Mesh Ventures, Synaro Capital | IPO | Strong |
| 31 | Black Sesame Technologies | Autonomous-driving compute chips | $466M | 6+ | August 2024 | $133M | IPO | NIO Capital, SAIC Motor, Northern Light VC | IPO | Partial |
| 32 | Canaan | Bitcoin-mining and ASIC chip designer | $460M | 6 | November 2025 | $72M | Registered Direct | BH Digital, Galaxy Digital, Weiss Asset Management | IPO | Partial |
| 33 | Rebellions | AI inference chip designer | $452M | 5 | September 2025 | $250M | Series C | Arm, Samsung Ventures, Kindred Ventures | Active | Strong |
| 34 | d-Matrix | AI inference compute chips | $450M | 3 | November 2025 | $275M | Series C | Bullhound Capital, Temasek, Triatomic Capital | Active | Strong |
| 35 | Espressif Systems | Wi-Fi and IoT chips | $434M | 2 | September 2025 | $255M | Private placement | AEGON-Industrial Fund, Wisdomshire, CICC-linked | IPO | Strong |
| 36 | SemiDrive | Automotive-grade processor chips | $404M | 5 | November 2022 | $140M | Series B+ | SAIC Goldstone, CITIC Securities, Guozhong Capital | Active | Strong |
| 37 | indie Semiconductor | Automotive mixed-signal chip designer | $403M | 3 | June 2021 | $400M | De-SPAC / PIPE | Thunder Bridge II PIPE investors | IPO | Strong |
| 38 | Rivos | RISC-V server and AI chips | $370M | 2 | April 2024 | $250M | Series A-3 | Matrix Capital, Intel Capital, MediaTek | Acquired | Partial |
| 39 | Axelera AI | Edge AI accelerator chips | $368M | 4 | February 2026 | $250M | Series C | Innovation Industries, BlackRock, SiteGround Capital | Active | Strong |
| 40 | Loongson Technology | Domestic CPU designer | $367M | 5 | June 2022 | $367M | IPO | Public investors | IPO | Partial |
| 41 | SiMa.ai | Physical AI edge platform | $355M | 5 | August 2025 | $85M | Series C | Maverick Capital, StepStone Group | Active | Strong |
| 42 | Ampere Computing | Arm server CPUs | $340M | 5 | March 2022 | Undisclosed | Series C extension | Oracle, Carlyle, Arm | Acquired | Partial |
| 43 | Hailo | Edge AI processors | $340M | 5 | April 2024 | $120M | Series C extension | Poalim Equity, Gil Agmon, OurCrowd | Active | Strong |
| 44 | Innovium | Ethernet switch chips | $335M | 5 | July 2020 | $170M | Series E | DFJ Growth, BlackRock, Premji Invest | Acquired | Partial |
| 45 | Mythic | Analog AI inference chips | $303M | 7+ | December 2025 | $125M | Growth round | DCVC, Lux Capital, BlackRock | Active | Partial |
| 46 | Upscale AI | AI networking infrastructure chips | $300M | 2 | January 2026 | $200M | Series A | Tiger Global, Premji Invest, Xora Innovation | Active | Full |
| 47 | Nuvia | Custom Arm server CPUs | $293M | 2 | September 2020 | $240M | Series B | Mithril Capital, Atlantic Bridge, Redline Capital | Acquired | Full |
| 48 | X-FAB Silicon Foundries | Analog mixed-signal specialty foundry | $266M | 1 | April 2017 | $266M | IPO | Xtrion, BNP Paribas, HSBC | IPO | Strong |
| 49 | Valens Semiconductor | High-speed connectivity semiconductors | $259M | 5 | September 2021 | $155M | De-SPAC / PIPE | MediaTek, Samsung Catalyst Fund | IPO | Strong |
| 50 | Tachyum | Universal AI/HPC processors | $245M | 5 | October 2025 | $220M | Series C | European investor | Active | Partial |
| 51 | Aquantia | Ethernet PHY and connectivity chips | $243M | 8 | November 2017 | $61M | IPO | Greylock, Lightspeed, Qualcomm Ventures | Acquired | Partial |
| 52 | Enfabrica | AI networking and memory fabric | $240M | 2 | November 2024 | $115M | Series C | Spark Capital, Arm, Cisco Investments | Active | Strong |
| 53 | Blaize | Edge AI computing platform | $237M | 5 | November 2025 | $30M | Post-IPO / PIPE | Polar Asset Management, Starshine Investments | IPO | Partial |
| 54 | Amlogic | TV and smart-device SoCs | $223M | 1 | August 2019 | $223M | IPO | Public market investors | IPO | Low |
| 55 | Empower Semiconductor | Integrated power chips for AI | $215M | 3 | September 2025 | $140M | Series D | Fidelity, Maverick Silicon, CapitalG | Active | Strong |
| 56 | Telink Semiconductor | IoT wireless SoC designer | $211M | 5 | August 2023 | $211M | IPO | Public investors | IPO | Partial |
| 57 | FuriosaAI | AI inference accelerator chips | $205M | 4 | July 2025 | $125M | Series C bridge | Institutional investors | Active | Partial |
| 58 | Arbe Robotics | Automotive imaging radar chipsets | $194M | 6 | June 2023 | $23M | Registered Direct Offering | Special Situations Funds, Catalyst Investments | IPO | Full |
| 59 | Icera | Cellular baseband modem chips | $188M | 6 | May 2010 | $45M | Late-stage Venture | Accel Partners, Benchmark Capital, Atlas Venture | Acquired | Partial |
| 60 | EFFECT Photonics | Coherent optical interconnect chips | $183M | 6 | June 2025 | $24M | Series D extension | Innovation Industries, Invest-NL | Active | Strong |
| 61 | Retym | Coherent DSPs for AI links | $180M | 4 | March 2025 | $75M | Series D | Spark Capital, Kleiner Perkins, Mayfield | Active | Partial |
| 62 | Innoscience | GaN power semiconductors | $180M | 1 | December 2024 | $180M | IPO | Public market investors | IPO | Partial |
| 63 | Morse Micro | Wi-Fi HaLow IoT chips | $171M | 3 | September 2025 | $59M | Series C | MegaChips, NRFC, Blackbird Ventures | Active | Partial |
| 64 | Atmosic Technologies | Ultra-low-power wireless IoT chips | $162M | 4 | March 2025 | $40M | Series D | Sutter Hill Ventures, Clear Ventures, Quantum Innovation Fund | Active | Full |
| 65 | Untether AI | At-memory AI inference chips | $152M | 5 | July 2021 | $125M | Series B | Tracker Capital, Intel Capital, CPP Investments | Shutdown | Low |
| 66 | Kneron | Edge AI chips/software | $150M | 5 | September 2023 | $49M | Series B extension | Foxconn, HH-CTBC Partnership, Alltek | Active | Strong |
| 67 | StarFive Technology | RISC-V CPU/IP designer | $146M | 4 | February 2025 | Undisclosed | Pre-B | HKIC, Baidu, CAS/China Internet Investment Fund | Active | Partial |
| 68 | EnCharge AI | Analog in-memory AI chips | $144M | 3 | February 2025 | $100M | Series B | Tiger Global, Maverick Silicon, Samsung Ventures | Active | Full |
| 69 | Uhnder | Digital automotive radar chips | $145M | 4 | February 2024 | $50M | Series D | ACME Capital, Magna, Qualcomm Ventures | Active | Strong |
| 70 | Everactive | Batteryless industrial IoT chips | $137M | 8 | August 2024 | $11M | Series C extension | 3M, Ericsson, 40 North Ventures | Active | Partial |
| 71 | Gowin Semiconductor | FPGA devices | $132M | 1 | May 2022 | $132M | Series B+ | Guangzhou Bay Area Semi Group | Active | Low |
| 72 | Achronix Semiconductor | FPGA and eFPGA semiconductor company | $132M | 4 | August 2012 | $10M | Venture / Private Equity | Argonaut Private Equity, Battery Ventures | Active | Strong |
| 73 | Ambarella | AI vision and imaging chips | $130M | 4 | July 2022 | $2M | Post-IPO | McDonald Partners | IPO | Strong |
| 74 | Goodix Technology | Biometrics and interface chips | $125M | 1 | October 2016 | $125M | Shanghai IPO | Public market investors | IPO | Strong |
| 75 | InvenSense | MEMS sensors and motion chips | $113M | 4 | November 2011 | $75M | IPO | Sierra Ventures, Artiman Ventures | Acquired | Strong |
| 76 | eSilicon | Custom ASIC and packaging services | $113M | 12 | July 2017 | $15M | Venture round | TPG, Crosspoint Venture Partners | Acquired | Partial |
| 77 | Cornami | Encrypted AI accelerator chips | $99M | 4 | July 2025 | $1M | Equity round | SoftBank Vision Fund 2, Impact Venture Capital | Active | Partial |
| 78 | pSemi | RF and mixed-signal semiconductors | $95M | 2 | August 2012 | $77M | IPO | Ridgewood Capital, Morgenthaler Ventures | Acquired | Strong |
| 79 | Beken | Wireless connectivity IoT chips | $93M | 1 | April 2019 | $93M | Shanghai IPO | Public market investors | IPO | Partial |
| 80 | Positron AI | Inference-optimized AI semiconductors | $75M | 2 | July 2025 | $52M | Series A | Valor Equity Partners, Atreides Management, DFJ Growth | Active | Strong |
| 81 | Allwinner Technology | Application processors and SoCs | $73M | 1 | May 2015 | $73M | Shenzhen IPO | Public market investors | IPO | Partial |
| 82 | Alif Semiconductor | Edge AI microcontrollers | $72M | 2 | December 2019 | $50M | Series B | Celesta Capital, Lightspeed India, Qualcomm Ventures | Active | Strong |
| 83 | Esperanto Technologies | RISC-V AI/HPC chips | $63M | 3 | November 2018 | $58M | Series B | Western Digital Capital, Intel Capital, Toyota AI Ventures | Active | Low |
| 84 | Flex Logix | Embedded FPGA and AI IP | $60M | 4 | March 2021 | $55M | Series D | Mithril Capital, Lux Capital, Eclipse Ventures | Acquired | Low |
| 85 | Rockchip | Application processors, multimedia chips | $58M | 1 | January 2020 | $58M | Shanghai IPO | Public market investors | IPO | Partial |
| 86 | Tower Semiconductor | Specialty analog semiconductor foundry | $56M | 3 | September 2009 | $21M | Institutional Offering | Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan Board | Active | Partial |
| 87 | Kinara | Edge AI inference processors | $54M | 2 | September 2021 | $35M | Series B | Tiger Global, Exfinity Venture Partners, Silicon Motion | Acquired | Strong |
| 88 | GreenWaves Technologies | Ultra-low-power edge AI processors | $30M | 3 | February 2023 | $22M | Series B | Innovacom, Thales, Bpifrance | Active | Partial |
| 89 | GrAI Matter Labs | Neuromorphic edge AI processors | $29M | 2 | November 2020 | $14M | Growth Round | iBionext, Bpifrance, Celeste Management | Acquired | Full |
| 90 | Rain AI | Neuromorphic AI chip startup | $25M | 1 | February 2022 | $25M | Series A | Prosperity7 Ventures, Sam Altman | Active | Low |
| 91 | Annapurna Labs | AWS server and networking chips | $20M | 1 | N/A | N/A | N/A | Avigdor Willenz, Walden International, Arm | Acquired | Low |
In our semiconductor industry deck, we will give you useful market maps and grids
Key funding trends in the semiconductor industry
Insights
- Cerebras Systems raised $2.0B across its Series G and H in just six months, showing how fast semiconductor investors now deploy capital once conviction forms around an AI compute platform.
- MatX went from a $25M seed to $605M in total semiconductor funding in under two years, one of the fastest capital ramp-ups for any non-Chinese chip startup in recent memory.
- Upscale AI raised $300M across its seed and Series A in roughly four months, a sign that AI networking silicon has become a semiconductor category where investors compete aggressively for early allocation.
- Lightmatter's valuation jumped from $1.2B to $4.4B in under a year between its Series C-2 and Series D, suggesting that photonic semiconductor interconnect technology triggered a sharp investor rerating in 2024.
- Biren Technology completed 11 private funding rounds before its Hong Kong IPO, the highest round count in this semiconductor ranking, reflecting the extended financing cycles typical of Chinese GPU chip startups navigating export controls.
- Ayar Labs raised $680M across its final three rounds in just 16 months (late 2024 to early 2026), a pace that suggests optical I/O semiconductor technology crossed a commercial readiness inflection point during that window.
- Astera Labs raised only $256M in private semiconductor funding before landing a $604M IPO, the highest IPO-to-private-funding ratio in this dataset, proving that capital-light connectivity chip plays can still command outsized public-market debuts.
- Rebellions, Axelera AI, and d-Matrix each closed semiconductor funding rounds of $250M or more in 2025 and 2026 while being headquartered outside the US, confirming that AI chip investment has become a genuinely global phenomenon.
- EnCharge AI's round size jumped roughly 4.4x in 14 months (from $22.6M to over $100M), reflecting a surge of investor interest in analog in-memory semiconductor compute architectures.
In our semiconductor industry deck, we have collected signals proving this market is hot right now
A few word about our methodology
As you can see, we built a database that ranks semiconductor startups based on their total cumulative fundraising. To create this ranking, we reviewed many sources and cross-checked information across multiple places.
Whenever possible, we prioritized official company communications, since they are the most reliable source for semiconductor funding amounts. When those were not available, we relied on reputable industry sources such as TechCrunch, Crunchbase, Financial Times or Forbes (to name a few).
We excluded random blogs, unverified websites, and any sources that could not be validated.
When funding rounds were announced in other currencies such as euros, Swiss francs, Singapore dollars, Australian dollars, or rupees, we converted them into approximate USD equivalents for consistency.
Sometimes different sources report slightly different numbers, or the exact round size is not fully disclosed. In those cases, we flag the uncertainty and assign a confidence label to each startup, visible in the last column.
Here is what they mean.
Full confidence: The semiconductor startup's equity fundraising history can be reconstructed completely from public sources. The rounds, dates, amounts, and key investors are clearly identified, with no meaningful gaps.
Strong confidence: The fundraising history is largely complete and reliable. There may be a small missing detail, such as incomplete investor information or a minor round with limited data, but the overall record is clear.
Partial confidence: The main fundraising rounds can be identified, but the record is incomplete or somewhat mixed. Some rounds may be missing or certain funding events may be difficult to separate clearly.
Low confidence: Public information is too limited, inconsistent, or ambiguous to reliably reconstruct the semiconductor startup's equity fundraising history.
When the confidence level is too low, we take a conservative approach and exclude the company from the ranking. We don't want to include data that cannot be reliably verified.
This reflects how we conduct all our research, including the work behind our report covering the semiconductor industry.
In a world where LLMs hallucinate and unreliable information is everywhere, our goal is simple: provide data you can trust.
If you want the full detail on a specific calculation, feel free to contact us and we will gladly explain.
Finally, know that we update the dataset once per month, so come back here if you need fresh information.
In our semiconductor industry deck, we identify repeatable patterns you can use if you’re building in this market
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