Kneron, the company developing AI chips for self-driving cars and other autonomous machines, has just raised a whopping $49 million in an extension to its Series B funding round. Investors include big names like Foxconn, Alltek, Horizon Ventures, Liteon Technology Corp, Adata, and Palpilot. This brings Kneron’s total raised to an impressive $190 million, which will be used to strengthen their position in the automotive industry and expand their R&D team.
The demand for AI chips is skyrocketing as the need for AI in generative applications continues to grow. According to Gartner, the semiconductor industry could see a $53.4 billion revenue opportunity by 2022, a 20.9% increase from this year. It’s no wonder that VC funding for chip startups has doubled in recent years.
And Kneron is definitely benefiting from this trend. Co-founded in 2015 by Albert Liu and Frank Chang, the company specializes in developing hardware for AI applications, particularly ASICs (Application-Specific Integrated Circuits). Their low-powered, reconfigurable AI chips are designed to work seamlessly with existing systems, such as the sensors on self-driving vehicles. They can run a wide range of algorithms, from face and body detection models to text generation models.
While Kneron has some tough competition in the AI chip market, they have managed to secure some impressive customers, including Garmin, Naver, and Quanta. Through their acquisition of imaging tech provider Otus, they have also formed partnerships with automotive companies like JVC Kenwood. In the short term, Kneron plans to focus on strategic areas like autonomous cars to avoid competing directly with established players. But in the long term, they aim to challenge incumbents by collaborating with third-party vendors.
Kneron’s CEO, Albert Liu, is confident in the company’s future. He believes that Kneron’s lightweight and reconfigurable solutions can solve major issues faced by AI use cases, such as latency, security, and cost. Ultimately, Liu sees Kneron becoming a significant player in the industry and enabling AI everywhere.
So what do you think of Kneron’s rise in the AI chip market? Can they really challenge the big players? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below!
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