PowerLattice, a startup co-founded in 2023 by former electrical engineers from Qualcomm, NUVIA, and Intel, has emerged from stealth operations, announcing a $25 million Series A funding round. This latest investment, led by Playground Global and Celesta Capital, brings the company's total funding to $31 million. PowerLattice claims to have developed a technology capable of reducing computer chip power consumption by over 50%.
The funding round saw the participation of Pat Gelsinger, General Partner at Playground Global and former CEO of Intel, who has publicly endorsed PowerLattice's approach. Gelsinger stated, "This is the hard stuff: How do you get power into the device? There are very few teams and people that can do it," adding, "We have assembled what I'd argue is the dream team of power delivery."
PowerLattice's core technology involves a power delivery chiplet designed to bring power closer to the processor, aiming to significantly minimize energy loss. The company has reached a key milestone with its first batch of chiplets now in production by TSMC. These chiplets are currently undergoing testing by an unnamed manufacturer, according to Gelsinger.
The startup plans to make its product available for testing by additional customers in the first half of 2026. Potential customers for PowerLattice's technology include major chip manufacturers such as Nvidia, Broadcom, and AMD, as well as specialized AI chip developers like Cerberus and Groq. PowerLattice operates in a competitive landscape, with companies like Empower Semiconductor also working on chip energy efficiency solutions. Empower Semiconductor reportedly secured over $140 million in Series D financing in September.
Despite existing internal efforts within chip companies to improve energy efficiency, Gelsinger expressed optimism regarding PowerLattice's innovative approach. He projected that the company's ability to "capture meaningful share will quickly emerge" and characterized the claimed 50% energy efficiency gain as an "extraordinary" result. Gelsinger anticipates PowerLattice will pursue a larger funding round to support future production scaling.
