Ricursive bets on AI-designed chips to ease compute crunch
The startup says AI can design chips faster and more efficiently than humans.
Research#06
10,000x
Projected rise in compute demand within five years
Image: TechCrunch
10,000xProjected rise in compute demand within five years
The short version
- Ricursive Intelligence founders Anna Goldie and Azalia Mirhoseini spoke at TechCrunch Disrupt on Wednesday.
- The startup is developing AI that designs chips, learns from each iteration, and improves later designs.
- Goldie said demand for compute could rise at least 10,000x in the next five years.
- The founders said AlphaChip, their earlier system, produced a donut-shaped chip layout that surprised engineers but worked.
Why it matters
The compute crunch is a key constraint on AI progress, so faster and more efficient chip design matters to developers. If design takes a week instead of months or years, custom chips for more applications become practical.
“If it takes six months or a year or two years to design a new chip, then you really have to be extremely selective about the chips that you design”