PowerLattice attracts investment from ex-Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger for its power saving chiplet

If you listen to what the biggest tech companies are saying about the demand for AI, you’ll notice a common thread: they’re running out of computing capacity. That means the large language models underlying AI products today require even more data centers for training and inference, and therefore need more power. Against this backdrop, energy efficiency has suddenly become a crucial priority for semiconductor manufacturers.

PowerLattice, a startup founded by experienced electrical engineers from Qualcomm, NUVIA and Intel in 2023, claims to have developed a breakthrough approach that reduces the power needs of computer chips by more than 50%. On Monday, the startup emerged from stealth with a $25 million Series A funding round led by Playground Global and Celesta Capital, bringing its total funding to $31 million.

“Here’s the hard part: how do you get power into the device? There are very few teams and people who can do that,” said Pat Gelsinger, general partner at Playground Global. “We have put together what I think is the dream team of power delivery.”

As the former CEO of Intel, Gelsinger has significant authority in the semiconductor world, making his participation a powerful stamp of approval for PowerLattice.

When the startup’s CEO, Dr. When Peng Zou, and the founding team pitched their idea to Playground’s office in March, they were so impressed by Gelsinger’s fame that they asked him for a selfie, Gelsinger told TechCrunch. The admiration turned out to be mutual, because Gelsinger was genuinely impressed by PowerLattice’s technology.

The startup’s technology sounds simple in concept: a small power delivery chiplet designed to deliver power closer to the processor, significantly minimizing energy loss.

Two years later, PowerLattice has already achieved its first major milestone: The first batch of chiplets is being produced by TSMC, in collaboration with an unnamed manufacturer that is testing the startup’s functionality, Gelsinger said.

In addition to its original customer, the startup plans to make its product available for testing by other customers in the first half of 2026. The tests should prove instructive, as PowerLattice’s potential customer base includes major chip makers Nvidia, Broadcom and AMD, as well as specialist AI chip developers, such as Cerberus, Grok and Playground-backed startups d-Matrix and NextSilicon.

While every chip company has internal teams working to improve energy efficiency, Gelsinger hopes PowerLattice’s innovative approach will pique their interest.

“They might say, ‘I’m going to add some volume to this approach, some volume to my more traditional approach,’” he said. “But we think our ability to capture meaningful share will emerge quickly.”

PowerLattice isn’t the only startup trying to help chip manufacturers tackle the energy problem. The company would compete most closely with Empower Semiconductor, a revenue-generating startup Series D of $140 millionled by Fidelity Management & Research Company, in September.

However, Gelsinger is confident that PowerLattice’s 50% energy efficiency gain is an “extraordinary” result, and he expects the company to soon secure a much larger round of financing to finance production.

“The idea is bold, the benefits are great and I expect others will say, ‘That’s a great idea. Let me try it too,'” Gelsinger said.