The AI Chip Scene Just Got a Whole Lot More Exciting: Positron Bags a Whopping $230M in Series B Funding
I’m still reeling from the news that Positron, a semiconductor startup based in Reno, has just raked in a staggering $230 million in Series B funding. And here’s the kicker: they plan to use this capital to supercharge the deployment of their high-speed memory chips, a crucial component for AI workloads.
What really got me talking is the list of investors who’ve backed Positron on this round. The Qatar Investment Authority (QIA), the nation’s sovereign wealth fund, has signed on, and it’s clear they’re making a serious play to establish themselves as a leading hub for AI companies in the Middle East.
So, what’s driving QIA’s push into AI? Well, according to sources, the nation views compute capability as vital to staying competitive on the global economic stage. In other words, they’re positioning themselves as a major player in the AI space.
This strategy is already taking shape through major commitments, including a $20 billion AI infrastructure partnership with Brookfield Asset Management, which was announced in September. It’s clear that QIA is dead serious about investing in the AI ecosystem.
Let’s dive into Positron. With this Series B, the company has raised a total of over $300 million. Prior to this, Positron had raised $75 million last year from investors including Valor Equity Partners, Atreides Management, DFJ Growth, Flume Ventures, and Resilience Reserve.
The startup’s first-generation chip, Atlas, manufactured in Arizona, boasts an impressive feature: it can match the efficiency of Nvidia’s H100 GPUs for less than a third of the power. Positron is focused on inference – computing needed to run AI models for real-world applications – rather than training massive language models. This positioning is crucial, as companies increasingly shift focus from building massive models to deploying them at scale.
But what about the competition? Sources tell me that beyond its memory capabilities, Positron’s chips also excel in high-frequency and video-processing workloads. This is a major blow to Nvidia, which has been the dominant player in the AI chip space.
I’ve reached out to Positron for more information, and I’ll be sure to update this story as soon as I get a response.
In the meantime, be sure to keep an eye out for our upcoming event in Boston, MA on June 23, 2026, where we’ll be diving deeper into the world of AI and its applications.
Read the full story on TechCrunch: [Exclusive: Positron raises $230m series B to take on Nvidia’s AI chips](https://techcrunch.com/2026/02/04/exclusive-positron-raises-230m-series-b-to-take-on-nvidias-ai-chips/)
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