Cognichip, a San Francisco-based startup, is emerging from stealth with a bold mission: to use AI to dramatically reduce the time and cost it takes to bring new semiconductor chips to market. The company just raised $33 million in seed funding to build what it calls “artificial chip intelligence” — a foundational AI model designed to assist chip engineers and accelerate innovation across the semiconductor industry.
The funding round was co-led by Lux Capital and Mayfield, with participation from FPV and Candou Ventures.
The vision behind Cognichip comes from Faraj Aalaei, a seasoned executive with deep roots in the chip industry, including roles at Fujitsu Network Communications and Centillium Communications. Back in 2015, while participating in the Silicon Valley Leadership Group, Aalaei raised concerns about the dramatic decline in VC funding for chip startups — from over 200 deals in 2000 to just one or two annually by 2015.
“I warned the other CEOs that this cannot be good for us,” Aalaei said. “If that trend continues, we’re going to lose our competitiveness.”
Years later, after launching Candou Ventures and watching the rise of generative AI, Aalaei saw an opportunity to bring AI into semiconductor design — not as a tool, but as a core intelligence layer. That insight became Cognichip, launched in 2024.
What Is Artificial Chip Intelligence?
Unlike traditional electronic design automation (EDA) tools, Cognichip is building a physics-informed foundational model — designed to act like a virtual chip engineer. The platform will eventually be capable of analyzing data, solving design problems, and optimizing chip development processes across multiple stages of the supply chain.
Aalaei says the goal is to cut chip development times by 50%, reduce costs, and ultimately allow teams to accomplish more with fewer engineers.
“This is not an incremental tool,” Aalaei said. “We’re setting a new goal for the industry.”
The startup has already assembled a team of top AI researchers from Stanford, MIT, and Google, and while the model is still years away from reaching “ultimate performance,” Aalaei believes it will begin helping semiconductor companies long before that.
Once mature, artificial chip intelligence could enable smaller teams to compete with industry giants — paving the way for more domain-specific chips, better tooling, and broader participation in semiconductor innovation.
Investors Say the Timing Is Right
The chip industry’s shortage of specialized talent and increasing complexity has created a massive opportunity for AI. Navin Chaddha, managing partner at Mayfield, said Cognichip addresses a pressing industry pain point.
“If you don’t have humans doing the job, can AI step in?” Chaddha said. “This company’s solution is a painkiller, not a vitamin, for the semiconductor industry.”
With chip demand skyrocketing across everything from smartphones to AI data centers, the need for smarter, faster design tools is only growing. Cognichip’s AI-driven approach could be a game-changer for a trillion-dollar industry that still relies heavily on manual work and legacy software.
Beyond speeding up timelines, Aalaei believes Cognichip can help democratize chip development. By reducing the expertise and capital needed to start building, more startups will be able to experiment, innovate, and bring specialized chips to market — even for niche AI models or custom hardware.
“What we’re doing is about rewriting the rules, not just tweaking them,” Aalaei said.
If Cognichip succeeds, artificial chip intelligence could become a foundational layer for the next era of chip innovation — empowering a new generation of semiconductor companies and breaking down long-standing barriers in the field.
