Eight-year-old semiconductor startup Frore Systems has secured a $143 million Series D funding, led by MVP Ventures, reaching a valuation of $1.64 billion, as announced by the company on Monday.
Frore has now amassed a total of $340 million in funding, according to the company. Rather than producing chips themselves, Frore specializes in creating liquid cooling systems for them. Established by two former Qualcomm engineers, the company’s technology initially targeted air-cooling solutions for phones and other small devices without fans.
The shift towards chip cooling was inspired by Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, who witnessed a technology demonstration around two years ago, Bloomberg reported. Huang encouraged them to explore liquid-cooling solutions, which are becoming essential for AI chips and systems. Following this, Frore launched products compatible with various Nvidia chips and boards. Additionally, they have developed solutions for Qualcomm and AMD.
Investment in AI semiconductors has surged. New unicorns in this sector include Nvidia rival Positron, valued at $1 billion in February, and Recursive Intelligence, which achieved a $4 billion valuation shortly after launch. Eridu has also emerged, raising $200 million in a Series A round to develop AI networking chips, although it has yet to reveal its valuation.
Investors in Frore’s recent funding round include Fidelity, Mayfield, Addition, Qualcomm Ventures, and Alumni Ventures, among others.