Vertical Semiconductor Raises $11 Million to Deliver the Next Wave of Power for AI Chips and Data Centers
MIT spinout debuts vertical GaN power conversion technology designed to dramatically reduce heat, shrink the footprint of power systems, and lower energy costs in AI infrastructure
BOSTON–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Vertical Semiconductor (Vertical), a semiconductor company spun out of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), today announced $11 million in seed funding led by Playground Global to help accelerate development of vertical GaN (gallium nitride) transistors, the next wave of power for AI chips in data centers. Additional investors include JIMCO Technology Ventures, milemark•capital, and Shin-Etsu Chemical.
The surge of AI workloads is straining data centers, and power delivery has become the critical bottleneck. The company’s vertical GaN transistors ease that bottleneck by pushing energy conversion closer to the chip with less power loss and heat, which is critical for powering the future of compute. This breakthrough reduces energy loss, cuts heat, and simplifies infrastructure, improving efficiency by up to 30% and enabling a 50% smaller power footprint in AI data center racks.
Cynthia Liao, CEO and co-founder of Vertical, said:
The pace of AI is not only limited by algorithms. The most significant bottleneck in AI hardware is how fast we can deliver power to the silicon,
“We’re not just improving efficiency, we’re enabling the next wave of innovation by rewriting how electricity is delivered in data centers at scale.”
Built on a decade of research at MIT’s Palacios Group – a world-leading gallium nitride (GaN) research lab, Vertical’s breakthrough transistors use GaN, a material that makes power systems more efficient and power dense than silicon. When combined with a novel vertical architecture, it makes it easier, faster, and more efficient to get power from the source to the chip. Vertical Semiconductor has demonstrated the technology on 8-inch wafers using standard silicon CMOS semiconductor manufacturing methods, enabling seamless integration with existing process technology and making it ready for real-world deployment for devices from 100 volts to 1.2kV.
Matt Hershenson, Venture Partner at Playground Global, said:
The Vertical team has cracked a challenge that’s stymied the industry for years: how to deliver high voltage and high efficiency power electronics with a scalable, manufacturable solution,
“They’re not just advancing the science – they’re changing the economics of compute.”
With a prototype in development and commercial milestones ahead, the company plans to start early sampling for its first prototype packaged devices by the end of the year and a fully integrated solution in 2026.
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Vertical Semiconductor Raises $11 Million to Deliver the Next Wave of Power for AI Chips and Data Centers, source
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