Nvidia's Next Challenger? Intel-Backed Rivos Eyes $500 Million to Take On AI Inference Market

Nvidia NVDA might have a new headache on the horizon. AI chip startup Rivos, backed by Intel INTC CEO Lip-Bu Tan is chasing up to $500 million in fresh funding, according to The Information. If the round lands, it would bring Rivos' total haul since launching in 2021 to nearly $900 million and value the company at over $2 billion.

The Santa Clara-based upstart hasn't shipped a mass-market chip yet, but it's aiming for 2026 to make its commercial debut. The goal? To muscle in on Nvidia's turf by building GPUs designed for AI inference, the kind of work that runs already trained modelsand is expected to account for as much as 60% to 70% of AI workloads by 2030.

Rivos has already sent a prototype off to TSMC for trial production. Its pitch centers on high-performance, power-efficient, secure server solutions built on RISC-V architecture. For Nvidia, which dominates the inference market, it's another reminder that competition in the AI chip space is heating up fast.