C2i Semiconductors, an innovative startup in the semiconductor industry, has recently obtained $15 million in funding, led by Peak XV Partners, with additional contributions from Yali Deeptech and TDK Ventures. Based in Bengaluru, this startup had earlier secured $4 million from the deeptech venture fund Yali Capital in November 2024. The newly raised capital is earmarked for global expansion efforts, establishing a US office to be closer to customers and key decision-makers, and subsequently creating an applications and systems engineering team in Taiwan, according to a company press release. Co-founded in June 2024 by Ram Anant, Vikram Gakhar, Preetam Tadeparthy Dattatreya Suryanarayana, Harsha S B, and Muthusubramanian N V, C2i Semiconductors is dedicated to developing power management solutions tailored for AI data centres and cloud infrastructure. The focus is on system-level innovations that fundamentally change how power is distributed from the grid to the processor core. C2i aims to expedite the process from design to silicon, with its first product expected to achieve tapeout in April, followed by a second product in July. One of the chips will be produced at Tower Semiconductor in Israel, while the other is set to be fabricated at GlobalFoundries, either in Singapore or Dallas. Market research indicates that capital expenditure in AI infrastructure is projected to reach $500–600 billion in the coming 12–18 months, potentially climbing to $1 trillion by 2030. C2i asserts that its system-level architecture can yield an efficiency recovery of 8–10%, enhance GPU performance by approximately 3%, and significantly prolong server lifespans. A 10% gain in efficiency could translate to nearly 1 kW saved per server tray, accumulating to hundreds of kilowatts across extensive deployments, which would enhance return on investment for operators. The company has stated that it is already in talks with three to four enterprise server clients to determine components for their next-generation platforms and is aiming for partnerships with global enterprise leaders.
