Efficient Computer builds programmable processors for battery-powered robots and autonomous drones, devices that need to run useful software without draining limited power. The company has closed a $97 million funding round to expand production and increase shipments of its first product, the Electron E1 chip, SiliconANGLE reported.
Its chips use a data-flow architecture: software work is arranged around the data an application actually needs, reducing the movement and control overhead found in conventional CPUs and GPUs. Efficient says the design can consume up to 100 times less energy than x86-based processors while remaining programmable.
That combination is the point. Highly specialized AI accelerators can save power on narrow inference jobs, but a robot or drone must perform other computing work too. Efficient is trying to cover that broader workload without giving up programmability, and it developed software tools alongside the silicon to make the system easier to use.
Efficient’s initial market is smaller, battery-operated machines rather than data-center servers, although it eventually wants to build larger server chips. Customer names and revenue remain undisclosed. TQ Ventures partner Andrew Marks said Efficient has completed four chip tape-outs and is already shipping at volume, offering some evidence of commercial progress without showing how broad demand is.
TQ Ventures led the round, with Eclipse, Union Square Ventures, Toyota Ventures and others participating. Efficient raised $60 million in February, making the latest financing $37 million larger. It plans to use the new capital to increase production and customer shipments of Electron E1.
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