Cognichip
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About
Cognichip is a San Francisco-based startup building AI-powered tools for semiconductor design, founded in 2024 by semiconductor veteran Faraj Aalaei 12. The company introduced ACI (Artificial Chip Intelligence), a purpose-built, physics-informed foundation model that fuses logic and physics-based reasoning to navigate complex chip design spaces 2. Cognichip claims to accelerate design cycles from months to days and reduce costs by 75% while optimizing power, performance, and area 2. The company is currently engaged with more than 30 semiconductor companies, including many of the top 20 semiconductor leaders 2.
Funding History
| Date | Round | Amount | Lead | Co-investors |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | Seed | $33M | Mayfield, Lux Capital, FPV, Candou Ventures 2 | |
| 2026-04-01 | Series A | $60M | Seligman Ventures | SBI Investment, Mayfield, Lux Capital, FPV, Candou Ventures 12 |
Total raised: $93M 2. Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan and Seligman Ventures Managing Partner Umesh Padval joined the board 2. Tan and Aalaei previously collaborated over three decades at Aquantia and Centillium Communications 2.
What Investors Say
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What Founders Say
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Sources
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TechCrunch, “Cognichip wants AI to design the chips that power AI, and just raised $60M to try,” April 1, 2026. https://techcrunch.com/2026/04/01/cognichip-wants-ai-to-design-the-chips-that-power-ai-and-just-raised-60m-to-try/↩↩
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BusinessWire, “Seligman Ventures Leads Cognichip’s $60M Series A to Back Physics-Informed AI for Chip Design, Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan and Seligman Ventures’ Umesh Padval Join the Board,” April 1, 2026. https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260401581076/en/Seligman-Ventures-Leads-Cognichips-$60M-Series-A-to-Back-Physics-Informed-AI-for-Chip-Design-Intel-CEO-Lip-Bu-Tan-and-Seligman-Ventures-Umesh-Padval-Join-the-Board↩↩↩↩↩↩↩↩↩