Thermodynamic smart chips win $75M deal to beat GPUs and drastically slash power use

A US company has signed a deal with the US Department of Commerce to speed up the development of a new generation of smart chips that could use a fraction of the power consumed by today’s GPUs for demanding computing workloads. Extropic, a Massachusetts-based AI hardware startup, announced on July 30 that it had signed a non-binding letter of intent. The deal could provide up to USD 75 million in funding through the CHIPS Research and Development Office (CRDO). The funding would help accelerate the development of the firm’s thermodynamic sampling units (TSUs) and produce them at a US semiconductor foundry. They are designed to perform probabilistic computing by using the natural thermodynamic fluctuations of CMOS transistors instead of relying on conventional digital logic. The chips could deliver significantly higher energy efficiency than traditional GPUs for crucial generative computing workloads. If completed, the project would fund development of the company’s first Z1 chip and larger computing systems, and support US production of the future Z1.5 chip. A new computing approach The company argued that the rapid growth of modern computing is increasingly constrained by electricity demand. This makes power efficiency just as important as expanding energy generation. “The current era of AI is one of exponential acceleration, and energy is its binding constraint,” Guillaume Verdon, founder and CEO, stated. “Brute-forcing the digital, deterministic paradigm to unfathomable scale cannot be the endgame.” Rather than relying on cutting-edge manufacturing nodes, TSUs are made to run on mature semiconductor processes. This means that the chips can be produced using existing fabrication capacity in the US. It could reduce the dependence on leading-edge overseas production. Extropic has demonstrated the portability of its technology by successfully testing two versions of its X0 prototype chip at two separate semiconductor fabrication sites. Its next milestone is the Z1, the first production-scale thermodynamic chip. Apart from the processor, the project also includes the development of software, networking infrastructure, and system-level controls needed to connect multiple chips into large-scale computing clusters. These systems could enable scientists to explore new computing algorithms that are currently impractical to simulate using conventional hardware. A domestic production base One of the project’s main goals is to establish US production of thermodynamic computing chips. Extropic also aims to create a future version of its production chip, known as Z1.5, at a US semiconductor foundry. This would reportedly establish the nation’s first domestic production capability for thermodynamic computing hardware. Howard Lutnick, Commerce Secretary, said investments in domestic computing technologies are intended to strengthen America’s semiconductor industry, expand manufacturing capacity, and create high-paying jobs. “With today’s compute supply chain investments, the Trump Administration is accelerating America’s innovation engine,” Lutnick, highlighted in a press release. Bill Frauenhofer, the US Department of Commerce’s Semiconductor Innovation and Investment executive director, stated that the planned incentives would help develop a new type of computing. “Accelerating R&D for probabilistic compute provides American industry the energy efficiency to scale complex AI workloads securely and rapidly,” he concluded. The agreement is non-binding. Any federal funding will depend on negotiations of final agreements and the achievement of project milestones.Recommended ArticlesGet the latest in engineering, tech, space & science - delivered daily to your inbox.Based in Skopje, North Macedonia. Her work has appeared in Daily Mail, Mirror, Daily Star, Yahoo, NationalWorld, Newsweek, Press Gazette and others. She covers stories on batteries, wind energy, sustainable shipping and new discoveries. When she's not chasing the next big science story, she's traveling, exploring new cultures, or enjoying good food with even better wine.