Extreme Tech Challenge at the Forefront of Semiconductors and AI with Startup Cup and Innovation Forum

Left, Bill Tai, Angel Investor; Partner Emeritus CRV; Co-Founder, Extreme Tech Challenge and Young Sohn, Chairman of the Samsung Semiconductor Advisory Board, Founding Managing Partner at Walden Catalyst Ventures and Co-Founder of Extreme Tech Challenge

Extreme Tech Challenge put itself at the forefront of today’s hottest venture market around the accelerating pace of innovation in Semiconductors and approaches to and uses of AI at XTC’s Semiconductor & AI Innovation Forum which was held on October 28 concurrent with the annual TechCrunch Disrupt Conference.  Thank you to Forum sponsors Foley & Lardner LLP and CBRE who hosted us in CBRE’s 46th floor event space in the iconic Salesforce Tower in downtown San Francisco.

At the Forum XTC announced 24 semifinalists in the Semiconductor & AI Startup Innovation Cup Competition, co-sponsored by Arm and Hon Hai Technology Group (dba Foxconn), who are highlighted in the Lookbook linked below.

See Lookbook

From these semifinalists, we announced the Top 8 (see below) who will advance to the finals pitch at CES 2025 on January 7.

Over 150 industry leaders and investors were welcomed by XTC Founders Bill Tai (Angel Investor; Partner Emeritus CRV; Co-Founder, Extreme Tech Challenge) and Young Sohn (Chairman of the Samsung Semiconductor Advisory Board, Founding Managing Partner at Walden Catalyst Ventures and Co-Founder of Extreme Tech Challenge).

Key Takeaways

• The latter-20s are truly a new golden era of chip and AI opportunity.
• For nearly 20 years, VC ran from chips, now they are piling on to the next wave.
• Chips are now so ubiquitous – without Arm no mobile phones, without Intel no PCs, without NVIDIA AI training would be more difficult
• Today’s chips are very power hungry, and we know we can do better
• Important to have a long view and a patient relationship, esp. in the chip world
• The successful startups grew because they had the support of a community interested in innovation, willing to take a risk
• Offering advice, publicity, customers, infrastructure and a little capital
• XTC is about building such a community of corporations and startups who together are creating a highway of innovation

The program started with a fireside chat by Dede Goldschmidt, VP, MD and Head of Samsung Catalyst Fund (SCF), Samsung Electronics’ multi-stage venture capital fund, who was in conversation with XTC co-Founder Young Sohn on the subject of Innovation Opportunities and Challenges ahead of Sustainable AI.

In addition, two panel discussions were presented!

AI Chips and Infrastructure:

• Fabrizio Del Maffeo, CEO, Axelera
• Davor Capalija, Senior Fellow, Tenstorrent
• Santosh Raghavan, Power Architecture & Silicon Tech Engineer, Groq
• Moderated by Jonathan Charles, Investment Director at Samsung Catalyst Fund

Interconnect and Packaging Technologies for Sustainable AI:

• Alan Liu, CEO, Quintessent
• Syrus Ziai, VP Engineering, Eliyan
• Moderated by Francis Ho, Partner at Walden Catalyst Fund

See the Videos of each session HERE

Key Takeaways

• AI is ultimately about highly interconnected data and processing, and no chip is an island.
• Density across 2 dimensions increases exponentially, but the edge space for connectors only increases linearly, so internal performance has hugely outstripped connectivity.
• Datacenters are now primarily energy-limited – Troubling analysis that total global energy must grow 10% just for AI.
• If raw logic compute is 1 energy unit, moving to cache is 100x, moving to server 5000x.
• These inefficiencies place a premium on lowering the consumption of both central processing and interconnect through architecture, packaging, compilers, algorithms and optics.
• The new generation of chips are highly specialized and complex hybrids, almost tiny datacenters on each chip, blending core, memory, RISC, Tensor, interconnect, designing HW around SW down to basic compilers where before it was the reverse; always relentlessly focusing on speed and efficiency where every tiny savings is enormously valuable.
• Edge and cloud are also opening less experienced users to advanced services, so accessibility and simple programmability have a much higher competitive value than in early generations.
• With datacenters exploding with AI, this massively increases the TAM and invest ability for new chip architectures as well as interconnect and packaging plays, compared to earlier decades.
• One estimate – if interconnect power use can decrease 30% that alone will save over $70B in energy over 5 years.
• Global data infrastructure business is so intense, it’s really a ‘winner takes all’ market
• New ventures must think intensely on how to be very UNIQUE and totally DOMINANT.
• Datacenters super-fast growth makes them highly risk-averse, so your solution has to be perfect from first-ship, today there is no room to “optimize on the 3rd release”.
• While visionary don’t be too far ahead of the market, aim for scale-up traction in 1-3 years.

Over 150 industry leaders and investors engaged with our sponsors and with the Cup Competition startups from around the world.

8 Startups Advance to the Finals of the Semi & AI Cup at CES 2025, Announced by Arm’s by Will Abbey, EVP and Chief Commercial Officer of Arm

• Will Abbey, EVP and Chief Commercial Officer of Arm, led the introduction of the 8 Finalists who will advance to a Finals live-pitch at CES in Las Vegas on January 7, 2025.
• Will quoted Voltaire’s proverb that “with great power comes great responsibility” regarding how Arm takes seriously considering how AI’s potential must also impact people and planet; that Will was inspired by XTC’s mission to have Arm help XTC create this startup competition and to encourage all these startups – semifinalists and Top 8 here below to do well and do better.

The Top 8 Finalists are — In alphabetical order:

• Ambient Scientific (USA) – Ultra-low power AI Microprocessor design & architecture
• Applied Brain Research (Canada) – Powerful low-energy AI for NLP anywhere
• Atlant3D (Denmark) – Atomic-layer manufacturing for diverse micro/nano fabrication
• JMEM Technology Co., Ltd. (Taiwan)- Innovation in integrated circuit cybersecurity
• Literal Labs (UK) – Tsetlin machines for AI that’s superior to today’s neural networks.
• Phanofi (Denmark) – Energy Efficient high speed transceivers for data centers
• Terecircuits (USA) – Solving circuit assembly and packaging challenges
• UncovAI (France) – Efficient, sustainable solution for detecting GenAI content

To see them pitch and hear more great thought leadership
join Extreme Tech Challenge in Las Vegas on January 7 at the Eureka Park Stage of CES 2025
Attend the culmination of the XTC Semiconductor & AI Innovation Startup Cup
presented by Arm and Hon-Hai Technology Group (Foxconn).