Which startups have raised the most funding in the semiconductor industry?

Last updated: 13 March 2026

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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%
chart VC fundraising startup years semiconductor industry

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
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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.
semiconductor trend chart

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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.

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