Artificial intelligence chips might be changing the future of drones and robotics. And Samsung is behind it.

‍What’s happening:‍

• Artificial intelligence chip manufacturer Axelera has raised $68 million in a new Series B financing round
  
• The round was led by Samsung Catalyst, which is the venture capital arm of semiconductor giant Samsung Electronics
  

The big idea:‍

• Axelera has developed a leading edge artificial intelligence processing unit which is capable of being installed into edge devices such as drones and robotics
  
• This allows hardware to run artificial intelligence models without being connected to the cloud whatsoever, which both enhances the speed of data processing and reduces overall energy consumption
  
• Axelera has also designed a purpose built software known as Metis which powers their artificial intelligence chips to operate within edge devices
  

By the numbers:‍

• Axelera has now raised $120M USD in venture capital funding
  

Going deeper:‍

• Axelera has multiple notable backers, including the European Innovation Council Fund, Innovation Industries Strategic Partnership Fund, Invest-NL and others
  
• Startups building artificial intelligence chips that are designed for edge devices have been seeing an uptick in funding lately, with Halio recently raising a mega round to accelerate the development of their chips which are purpose built for battery powered devices such as automotive vehicles
  

The intrigue:‍

• Samsung has been making a flurry of new venture capital bets lately, previously backing decentralized physical infrastructure crypto startup Roam and leading a financing round into a publicly traded nickel company in Canada

‍