Retym, a U.S.-based chipmaker with Israeli origins, has successfully completed a $75 million Series D funding round, led by James Kuklinski of Spark Capital. Additional participation came from previous investors, Navin Chaddha of Mayfield and Mamoon Hamid of Kleiner Perkins, bringing the company’s total capital raised to $180 million, according to a company statement.
The chipmaker is emerging as a beneficiary of the increasing prominence of artificial intelligence, although it does not directly compete with Nvidia GPUs in processing AI workloads. Retym is developing an innovative “programmable coherent digital signal processing (DSP)” chip designed to enhance communication speed within data centers and with external entities.
The demand for such technology in data centers has become imperative due to the rapid advancement of AI, which has significantly increased their need for efficiency and capacity to manage larger workloads.
Founded in 2021, Retym has maintained a low profile until its recent funding announcement. On Monday, Roni El-Bahar, the company’s CTO and co-founder, published a blog post revealing that the startup was established to introduce competition to the DSP market, traditionally dominated by a few large semiconductor companies.
El-Bahar specifically pointed to Marvell Technology as the prevailing leader in the DSP sector, with existing partnerships with companies such as Nvidia and Juniper Networks.
Retym is utilizing TSMC’s advanced 5-nanometer fabrication technology for its inaugural chip, which is currently undergoing testing, the company reported to Reuters.
Retym did not immediately provide further comments when requested.
