Srini Ananth

AI compute is scaling at an unprecedented pace, making power delivery a first-order constraint on performance, cost, and deployment velocity—as discussed recently in our power in the data center post. Today, we are excited to announce our investment in EPIC Microsystems’s $21M Series A. Seligman Ventures led the round, with participation from AICONIC Ventures, Cambium Capital, and returning seed investors A&E Investments and Nepenthe Capital. AI chips have crossed a critical threshold.

Over the past few years, we’ve seen remarkable innovation across the semiconductor landscape aimed at solving the compute, memory, and power challenges posed by AI workloads. At Intel Capital, we’ve backed startups pushing the boundaries of interconnect latency, memory density, and materials science. But the exponential growth in AI adoption is now straining data center infrastructure in ways that demand a fundamental rethink, not just chips, but the entire system architecture.

Robotics is becoming increasingly accessible as hardware has reached a level of maturity and standardization, providing a solid foundation (the "body"). The next challenge is advancing the robot's "mind." Specifically, the use of large language models and other AI systems that autonomously drive essential functions like perception, motion control, and decision-making.