Former Apple Chip Executives Found Company to Take on Intel 5o535t AMD

Nuvia’s founders, backers, and plans have not been previously reported. 3y5z4q

By Reuters | Updated: 18 November 2019 10:41 IST

Former Apple Chip Executives Found Company to Take on Intel, AMD

Nuvia will design processors for data centres, aiming to take on Intel and AMD 2e7160

Highlights

Nuvia is currently developing a processor code-named Phoenix
The company will expand to about 100 employees by the end of this year
Nuvia aims to make faster, power-efficient and more secure chips

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Three of Apple's former top semiconductor executives in charge of iPhone chips have founded a startup to design processors for data centres, aiming to take on current industry leaders Intel and Advanced Micro Devices (AMD).

Nuvia was founded by Gerard Williams III, Manu Gulati and John Bruno in early 2019 and is developing a processor code-named Phoenix. The company on Friday said it raised $53 million (roughly Rs. 379 crores) from Dell Technologies Capital and several Silicon Valley firms, which will help it expand from 60 employees to about 100 by the end of this year.

The company's founders, backers and plans have not been previously reported.

Williams left Alphabet's Google before coming to Nuvia.

At Nuvia, the group's goal is to take the lessons learned deg powerful chips for small, battery-powered devices such as iPhones and apply them to large, electricity-hungry data centre servers. The founders aim to make a chip that is faster, more power-efficient and more secure than existing data centre processors, Williams told Reuters.

“We want to bring all these aspects that we have developed over time through our careers to this new market and really exploit them in this market, because it's an area ripe for innovation and advancement,” Williams told Reuters in an interview.

Chip suppliers AMD in the server market with chip technology previously used in mobile phones.

But Patrick Moorhead, an analyst at Moor Insights & Strategies, said Nuvia could prove a formidable new entrant based on its founding team's track record. He said the team made “unprecedented” performance gains with each new generation of chips at Apple.

“I've been in and around semiconductor companies for 30 years. There are never any guarantees, but one thread that I've seen is that the most successful chip companies have rock star architects and developers,” Moorhead said.

Among Nuvia's investors is Dell Technologies' venture arm. Dell is one of Intel's biggest customers. Scott Darling, president the venture group and himself a veteran of Apple and Intel, said he could not comment on whether Dell will use Nuvia's chips.

“The silicon industry is relentless. It pounds forward,” he told Reuters. “You have to have a world-class team to do something disruptive enough that it will prevail despite the response of competitors. At Nuvia, we think we have found one.”

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