What are the most valued startups in the semiconductor industry?
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The semiconductor industry has become one of the most strategically important technology sectors in the world, with AI accelerators, photonic interconnects, and domestic chip manufacturing reshaping who holds competitive advantage.
This ranking covers 77 semiconductor startups and scale-ups, ordered by their latest reported or estimated valuation, from wafer-scale compute giants to edge AI chip designers.
We update this list every month to reflect new funding rounds, market cap changes, and acquisition activity, so the data stays as current as possible.
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A quick summary table
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| Most valuable semiconductor startup | Kioxia Holdings ($75.2B) |
| Second most valuable semiconductor startup | Cambricon Technologies ($68B–$73B) |
| Median valuation across semiconductor startups | ~$1.5B |
| Share of total valuation captured by the top 10 chip companies | ~80% |
| Top semiconductor startup valuation vs. median | ~50x |
| Median valuation-to-capital-raised ratio | ~5.0x |
| Semiconductor startups valued at $1B+ | 38 |
In our semiconductor industry deck, we will give you useful market maps and grids
Top startups in the semiconductor industry ranked by valuation
Here is an updated table that ranks the top startups in the semiconductor industry based on their latest reported or estimated valuations.
If you want more details about their fundraising activity, you can check our list of the startups who have raised the most funding in the semiconductor industry.
| # | Startup Name | What They Do | Current Valuation ($) | Valuation Confidence Level | Valuation Type | Evidence Status | Total Funding ($) | Funding Confidence Level |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Powerchip Semiconductor | IC foundry and memory | $65.0B–$130.0B | Partial Confidence | Public Market Cap | Observed | N/A | N/A |
| 2 | Kioxia Holdings | NAND memory and flash manufacturer | $75.2B | Full Confidence | Public Market Cap | Observed | N/A | N/A |
| 3 | Cambricon Technologies | AI accelerator chips | $68.0B–$73.0B | Full Confidence | Public Market Cap | Observed | $569M | Strong Confidence |
| 4 | Unisoc | Mobile and IoT SoCs | $60.0B–$80.0B | Partial Confidence | Active Raise Valuation | Estimated | $552M | Partial Confidence |
| 5 | GlobalFoundries | Global semiconductor foundry | $68.0B | Strong Confidence | Public Market Cap | Observed | $2.8B | Partial Confidence |
| 6 | Moore Threads | Chinese GPU and AI chips | $39.3B | Full Confidence | Public Market Cap | Observed | $2.4B | Partial Confidence |
| 7 | MetaX Integrated Circuits | Chinese AI GPU maker | $31.0B | Full Confidence | Public Market Cap | Observed | $894M | Partial Confidence |
| 8 | GigaDevice Semiconductor | Memory, MCU, sensor chips | $28.0B–$29.0B | Full Confidence | Public Market Cap | Observed | $1.4B | Partial Confidence |
| 9 | Espressif Systems | Wi-Fi and IoT chips | $25.0B–$27.0B | Full Confidence | Public Market Cap | Observed | $434M | Strong Confidence |
| 10 | Hua Hong Semiconductor | Specialty wafer foundry | $24.0B | Partial Confidence | Public Market Cap | Implied | $3.3B | Strong Confidence |
| 11 | Cerebras Systems | Wafer-scale AI compute systems | $22.0B–$24.0B | Strong Confidence | Announced Private Round Valuation | Observed | $2.8B | Strong Confidence |
| 12 | ChangXin Memory Technologies | DRAM memory chip maker | $15.0B–$25.0B | Partial Confidence | Proxy-Based Estimate | Estimated | $4.9B | Strong Confidence |
| 13 | Tower Semiconductor | Specialty analog semiconductor foundry | $15.0B | Strong Confidence | Public Market Cap | Observed | $56M | Partial Confidence |
| 14 | Horizon Robotics | ADAS and autonomous driving chips | $14.5B | Full Confidence | Public Market Cap | Observed | $3.1B | Strong Confidence |
| 15 | Black Sesame Technologies | Autonomous-driving compute chips | $12.1B | Full Confidence | Public Market Cap | Observed | $466M | Partial Confidence |
| 16 | Yangtze Memory Technologies | NAND flash memory maker | $8.0B–$15.0B | Partial Confidence | Proxy-Based Estimate | Estimated | $3.1B | Strong Confidence |
| 17 | Biren Technology | GPGPU chips for AI | $9.8B | Full Confidence | Public Market Cap | Observed | $2.1B | Full Confidence |
| 18 | Iluvatar CoreX | Cloud and AI GPU chips | $8.4B | Full Confidence | Public Market Cap | Observed | $1.1B | Partial Confidence |
| 19 | Vanguard International Semiconductor | Foundry services | $6.9B | Strong Confidence | Public Market Cap | Observed | N/A | N/A |
| 20 | Ampere Computing | Arm server CPUs | $6.5B | Full Confidence | Acquisition Value | Observed | $340M | Partial Confidence |
| 21 | Astera Labs | AI data-center connectivity chips | $5.0B–$7.0B | Partial Confidence | Public Market Cap | Observed | $860M | Strong Confidence |
| 22 | MatX | AI training chips | $4.2B–$5.8B | Strong Confidence | Implied Valuation from Raise | Implied | $605M | Strong Confidence |
| 23 | Lightmatter | Photonic AI interconnect and compute | $4.6B–$5.2B | Strong Confidence | Announced Private Round Valuation | Estimated | $822M | Strong Confidence |
| 24 | Ayar Labs | Optical interconnects for AI chips | $3.7B–$3.8B | Strong Confidence | Announced Private Round Valuation | Observed | $872M | Strong Confidence |
| 25 | Celestial AI | Optical interconnect for AI | $3.3B | Full Confidence | Acquisition Value | Observed | $589M | Partial Confidence |
| 26 | Tenstorrent | RISC-V AI compute hardware | $2.8B–$3.2B | Partial Confidence | Implied Valuation from Raise | Implied | $1.2B | Partial Confidence |
| 27 | Montage Technology | Interconnect and server chips | $2.9B | Partial Confidence | Public Market Cap | Estimated | $1.4B | Strong Confidence |
| 28 | OmniVision Technologies | CMOS image sensor chips | $2.2B | Strong Confidence | Acquisition Value | Observed | $658M | Partial Confidence |
| 29 | Ambarella | Edge AI vision SoC maker | $2.1B | Full Confidence | Public Market Cap | Observed | $130M | Strong Confidence |
| 30 | Rivos | RISC-V server and AI chips | $1.8B–$2.2B | Partial Confidence | Proxy-Based Estimate | Estimated | $370M | Partial Confidence |
| 31 | Nexchip Semiconductor | Display-driver wafer foundry | $2.0B | Low Confidence | Public Market Cap | Estimated | $1.8B | Strong Confidence |
| 32 | X-FAB Silicon Foundries | Analog mixed-signal specialty foundry | $1.0B–$3.0B | Low Confidence | Comparables-Based Estimate | Estimated | $266M | Strong Confidence |
| 33 | Annapurna Labs | AWS server and networking chips | $1.0B–$3.0B | Low Confidence | Comparables-Based Estimate | Estimated | $20M | Low Confidence |
| 34 | Tachyum | Universal AI/HPC processors | $1.5B–$2.3B | Partial Confidence | Implied Valuation from Raise | Implied | $245M | Partial Confidence |
| 35 | Navitas Semiconductor | GaN and SiC power chips | $1.9B | Full Confidence | Public Market Cap | Observed | $470M | Strong Confidence |
| 36 | Rebellions | AI inference chip designer | $1.4B | Partial Confidence | Announced Private Round Valuation | Observed | $452M | Strong Confidence |
| 37 | Telink Semiconductor | IoT wireless SoC designer | $1.4B | Strong Confidence | Public Market Cap | Observed | $211M | Partial Confidence |
| 38 | Groq | AI inference chips and cloud | $1.0B–$1.5B | Low Confidence | Comparables-Based Estimate | Estimated | $1.9B | Strong Confidence |
| 39 | Beken Corporation | Wireless connectivity IoT chips | $1.2B | Low Confidence | Comparables-Based Estimate | Estimated | $93M | Partial Confidence |
| 40 | Innovium | Ethernet switch chips | $1.1B | Strong Confidence | Acquisition Value | Observed | $335M | Partial Confidence |
| 41 | Kneron | Edge AI chips and software | $900M–$1.1B | Partial Confidence | Active Raise Valuation | Implied | $150M | Strong Confidence |
| 42 | Allwinner Technology | Application processors and SoCs | $1.0B | Partial Confidence | Public Market Cap | Estimated | $73M | Partial Confidence |
| 43 | Rockchip Electronics | Multimedia and SoC processors | $800M–$1.2B | Low Confidence | Comparables-Based Estimate | Estimated | $58M | Partial Confidence |
| 44 | eSilicon | Custom ASIC and packaging services | $500M–$1.5B | Low Confidence | Proxy-Based Estimate | Estimated | $113M | Partial Confidence |
| 45 | Upscale AI | AI networking infrastructure chips | $1.0B | Strong Confidence | Announced Private Round Valuation | Observed | $300M | Full Confidence |
| 46 | indie Semiconductor | Automotive mixed-signal chip designer | $540M–$940M | Strong Confidence | Public Market Cap | Observed | $403M | Strong Confidence |
| 47 | Cornami | Encrypted AI accelerator chips | $600M–$800M | Partial Confidence | Comparables-Based Estimate | Estimated | $99M | Partial Confidence |
| 48 | Loongson Technology | Domestic CPU designer | $500M–$800M | Low Confidence | Proxy-Based Estimate | Estimated | $367M | Partial Confidence |
| 49 | Ambiq Micro | Ultra-low-power edge AI chips | $550M | Strong Confidence | Public Market Cap | Observed | $583M | Full Confidence |
| 50 | Hejian Technology | Semiconductor foundry | $300M–$800M | Low Confidence | Proxy-Based Estimate | Estimated | N/A | N/A |
| 51 | FuriosaAI | AI inference accelerator chips | $300M–$700M | Low Confidence | Proxy-Based Estimate | Estimated | $205M | Partial Confidence |
| 52 | Graphcore | IPU chips for AI | $400M–$600M | Low Confidence | Acquisition Value | Implied | $710M | Full Confidence |
| 53 | Mythic | Analog AI inference chips | $300M–$600M | Low Confidence | Comparables-Based Estimate | Estimated | $303M | Partial Confidence |
| 54 | SemiDrive Technology | Automotive-grade processor chips | $300M–$600M | Low Confidence | Proxy-Based Estimate | Estimated | $404M | Strong Confidence |
| 55 | Aquantia | Ethernet PHY and connectivity chips | $450M | Strong Confidence | Acquisition Value | Observed | $243M | Partial Confidence |
| 56 | Hailo | Edge AI processors | $250M–$500M | Low Confidence | Comparables-Based Estimate | Estimated | $340M | Strong Confidence |
| 57 | StarFive Technology | RISC-V CPU and IP designer | $250M–$500M | Low Confidence | Comparables-Based Estimate | Estimated | $146M | Partial Confidence |
| 58 | Icera | Cellular baseband modem chips | $367M | Full Confidence | Acquisition Value | Observed | $188M | Partial Confidence |
| 59 | Positron AI | Inference-optimized AI semiconductors | $300M–$430M | Strong Confidence | Implied Valuation from Raise | Implied | $75M | Strong Confidence |
| 60 | Kinara | Edge AI inference processors | $307M | Full Confidence | Acquisition Value | Observed | $54M | Strong Confidence |
| 61 | SiMa.ai | Physical AI edge platform | $200M–$400M | Low Confidence | Comparables-Based Estimate | Estimated | $355M | Strong Confidence |
| 62 | Phytium Technology | Domestic high-performance CPUs | $200M–$400M | Low Confidence | Proxy-Based Estimate | Estimated | N/A | N/A |
| 63 | EFFECT Photonics | Coherent optical interconnect chips | $250M–$350M | Partial Confidence | Implied Valuation from Raise | Estimated | $183M | Strong Confidence |
| 64 | Canaan | Bitcoin-mining and ASIC chips | $280M | Full Confidence | Public Market Cap | Observed | $460M | Partial Confidence |
| 65 | Blaize | Edge AI computing platform | $200M–$350M | Low Confidence | Comparables-Based Estimate | Estimated | $237M | Partial Confidence |
| 66 | d-Matrix | AI inference compute chips | $150M–$300M | Low Confidence | Proxy-Based Estimate | Estimated | $450M | Strong Confidence |
| 67 | Retym | Coherent DSPs for AI links | $150M–$300M | Partial Confidence | Implied Valuation from Raise | Implied | $180M | Partial Confidence |
| 68 | Axelera AI | Edge AI accelerator chips | $150M–$250M | Low Confidence | Implied Valuation from Raise | Estimated | $368M | Strong Confidence |
| 69 | Valens Semiconductor | High-speed connectivity semiconductors | $150M–$180M | Strong Confidence | Public Market Cap | Observed | $259M | Strong Confidence |
| 70 | Atmosic Technologies | Ultra-low-power wireless IoT chips | $120M–$200M | Low Confidence | Proxy-Based Estimate | Estimated | $162M | Full Confidence |
| 71 | Alif Semiconductor | Edge AI microcontrollers | $100M–$180M | Low Confidence | Comparables-Based Estimate | Estimated | $72M | Strong Confidence |
| 72 | Achronix Semiconductor | FPGA and eFPGA solutions | $90M–$150M | Low Confidence | Comparables-Based Estimate | Estimated | $132M | Strong Confidence |
| 73 | Flex Logix | Embedded FPGA and AI IP | $80M–$140M | Low Confidence | Proxy-Based Estimate | Estimated | $60M | Low Confidence |
| 74 | EnCharge AI | Analog in-memory AI chips | $50M–$150M | Low Confidence | Proxy-Based Estimate | Estimated | $144M | Full Confidence |
| 75 | Rain AI | Neuromorphic AI chip startup | $20M–$40M | Low Confidence | Proxy-Based Estimate | Estimated | $25M | Low Confidence |
| 76 | Esperanto Technologies | RISC-V AI and HPC chips | $5M–$15M | Low Confidence | Proxy-Based Estimate | Estimated | $63M | Low Confidence |
| 77 | Untether AI | At-memory AI inference chips | $0M–$5M | Low Confidence | Proxy-Based Estimate | Estimated | $152M | Low Confidence |
In our semiconductor industry deck, we provide the data and the context to understand it
Key valuation trends in the semiconductor industry
Insights
- Cambricon Technologies achieved roughly a 124x valuation-to-funding ratio, with its $70B midpoint market cap built on just $569M raised, making it the most capital-efficient AI chip company in this entire dataset.
- Espressif Systems converted $434M in total funding into a $26B public market cap, a roughly 60x return that shows IoT chip makers can generate value comparable to dedicated AI chip companies.
- Lightmatter and Ayar Labs together carry a combined midpoint valuation near $8.7B on $1.7B in total funding, establishing photonic interconnect as a distinct multi-billion-dollar category within the semiconductor industry.
- Biren Technology ($9.8B on $2.1B raised, 4.7x) and Horizon Robotics ($14.5B on $3.1B raised, 4.7x) share an identical valuation multiple, suggesting public markets apply a consistent pricing band to recently listed Chinese chip companies.
- Kinara was acquired for $307M after raising only $54M, a 5.7x return on invested capital that shows edge AI inference chips can produce solid exits without requiring large funding rounds.
- Navitas Semiconductor, the only power semiconductor company in the top 35 by valuation, sits at a 4.0x valuation-to-funding multiple, noticeably below the 5.0x median, suggesting AI demand has not yet broadly re-rated GaN and SiC chip valuations to match compute-focused peers.
- Among the 16 semiconductor startups with strong data on both valuation and funding, the median valuation-to-funding multiple sits at approximately 5.0x, a useful baseline for investors evaluating new chip opportunities.
In our semiconductor industry deck, we identify repeatable patterns you can use if you’re building in this market
A few words about our methodology
As you can see, we built a database that ranks startups in the semiconductor industry based on their current valuation.
Estimating semiconductor startup valuations is not always straightforward. Many chip companies do not publicly disclose their valuation, and the available information can vary widely depending on the company and its stage.
To build this ranking, we applied a structured valuation methodology and cross-checked information across multiple reliable sources.
Whenever possible, we relied on direct disclosures. These include announced valuations from completed funding rounds, public filings for listed semiconductor companies, or official acquisition prices.
When a semiconductor startup is publicly listed, we use its current market capitalization as the reference valuation.
If a chip company was acquired and no independent valuation can reasonably be estimated today, we use the acquisition price as the main reference point.
When a semiconductor startup recently raised capital but the valuation was not disclosed, we estimate the implied valuation using typical dilution levels for that stage of fundraising.
In some cases, we also estimate valuations using operating metrics such as revenue, ARR, or customer traction, combined with valuation multiples from comparable semiconductor companies in the same segment.
When direct financial data is not available, we may rely on carefully selected comparable chip companies and other signals such as hiring growth, investor quality, or product traction.
All estimates follow a strict evidence hierarchy. Recent funding rounds with announced valuations carry the most weight, followed by strong operating metrics and comparable company analysis.
We also carefully evaluate the age of every data point. Recent information carries more weight, while older data is treated cautiously and adjusted conservatively when necessary.
Whenever information is uncertain or incomplete, we clearly distinguish between confirmed facts and reasonable inferences.
Because valuation data is not always fully public, each semiconductor startup in the ranking is assigned a confidence level based on the reliability, recency, and consistency of the available evidence.
Full confidence means the valuation is supported by strong and recent evidence. Strong confidence means the estimate is well supported but includes minor inference. Partial confidence means the estimate relies more heavily on indirect signals. Low confidence means available information is limited or inconsistent.
When confidence is lower, we take a more conservative approach by widening the valuation range. This helps reflect the uncertainty and increases the probability that the true valuation falls within the estimated range.
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 semiconductor valuation estimate, 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 answer all the common questions from investors and entrepreneurs
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