The chip wars are heating up

Cerebras, Etched, Skild, a16z, xAI, JPM Health and more in this issue of Pulse.

Author

Paul Smalera
January 15, 2026

TL;DR. AI chip challengers are raising war chests to take on Nvidia. Cerebras is seeking $1B at a $22B valuation ahead of its IPO, while Etched just closed $500M. Meanwhile, Skild AI just raised $1.4B for its "universal robot brain" and the J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference is buzzing with AI deals.

Cerebras seeks $1B at $22B valuation in pre-IPO raise

AI chip maker Cerebras Systems is in talks to raise $1B at a $22B pre-money valuation, nearly tripling its worth from just four months ago. The company plans to refile for its IPO as early as this week, targeting a Q2 2026 listing. The funding comes after Cerebras resolved a U.S. national security review that delayed its original IPO plans, with UAE-based investor G42 stepping back from its stake. Cerebras builds massive wafer-scale chips designed to outperform Nvidia GPUs on AI inference workloads.

Etched raises $500M to compete with Nvidia

AI chip startup Etched raised $500M at a $5B valuation, led by Stripes with participation from Peter Thiel, Positive Sum, and Ribbit Capital. The San Jose-based company is building the Sohu AI chip in partnership with TSMC's Emerging Businesses Group, bringing its total funding to nearly $1B. The raise comes amid continued investor interest in Nvidia alternatives as demand for AI accelerators remains strong.

Skild AI raises $1.4B at $14B valuation for "universal robot brain"

Pittsburgh-based Skild AI raised $1.4B in Series C funding led by SoftBank, with participation from Nvidia's NVentures, Jeff Bezos, Samsung, LG, and Salesforce Ventures. The round values the company at over $14B—more than triple its valuation from just seven months ago. Skild is building the "Skild Brain," a foundation model designed to operate any robot regardless of its physical form, with the ability to adapt in real time to changes without retraining. The company plans to first deploy in enterprise settings before eventually targeting consumer homes.

Augment Nominated for the 2025 SecLink Awards

Augment was nominated for the 2025 SecLink Awards, recognizing the most influential players in the secondary market. We’re honored to be included alongside firms shaping the future of private market liquidity.

Voting is now open and runs through January 25th.

Thanks to the SecondaryLink team and to everyone who has supported us this past year.

Pulse check. Not every big raise satisfies the headline algorithm. Each week brings deals that don't crack the front page but still tell you something about where the market's headed. Here's what else closed i recent days—some names you'll recognize, others you might want to start tracking:

More notable fundings this week

Cyera: $400M at $9B valuation — The data security platform tripled its valuation in a round led by Blackstone, as enterprises increasingly prioritize securing their AI deployments. The company reported 3.4x revenue growth year-over-year.

Onebrief: $200M for AI-powered defense planning — The defense tech company is scaling its AI mission planning system across U.S. military commands, building what it describes as next-generation autonomous military software.

Harmattan AI: $200M at $1.4B valuation — French defense tech startup reaches unicorn status with Dassault Aviation leading the round. The company builds autonomous mission software for fighter jets and drones.

LMArena: $150M Series A at $1.7B valuation — The AI model evaluation platform reached unicorn status in under four months, providing benchmarking tools as businesses navigate an increasingly crowded AI landscape.

The Pulse is published by Augment for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice, a recommendation, or an offer to buy or sell any securities. Past performance is not indicative of future results.

Stay tuned for exciting new changes to the Pulse next week!
~Paul