At least 45 startups are making AI chips

Artificial intelligence is one of the hottest buzz words in the technology industry and there are quite a number of companies that are working on chips to meet the demand from this growing target audience. This includes big names like Intel, NVIDIA and Qualcomm, but also a long list of startups. A new piece by NY Times reports there are at least 45 startups working on AI chips, focusing on everything from speech to self-driving car technology. At least five of these startups have already raised over $100 million from investors.

The paper compares the AI boom to the massive growth of PC and HDD makers in the 1980s, and predicts few of these startups will survive:

The explosion is akin to the sudden proliferation of PC and hard-drive makers in the 1980s. While these are small companies, and not all will survive, they have the power to fuel a period of rapid technological change.

It is doubtful that any of the companies fantasize about challenging Intel head-on with their own chip factories, which can take billions of dollars to build. (The start-ups contract with other companies to make their chips.) But in designing chips that can provide the particular kind of computing power needed by machines learning how to do more and more things, these start-ups are racing toward one of two goals: Find a profitable niche or get acquired. Fast.