Jeff Bezos-Backed AI Startup Targets Rare Earth Dependence in Chipmaking

Producing the world's semiconductors requires enormous amounts of energy and access to critical minerals. CuspAI, a two-year-old British startup, has raised nearly half a billion dollars on its belief that artificial intelligence (AI) can help improve that process, Mark Bergen and Akshat Rathi reported for Bloomberg News.

CuspAI unveiled its AI Materials Foundry, bringing together technology companies and research institutions to accelerate the discovery of new semiconductor materials. (Photo: CuspAI X)

This week, CuspAI launched the AI Materials Foundry, a coalition of more than 48 technology companies, industrial firms, and research institutions.

The initiative—which includes members such as Nvidia Corp., Meta Platforms Inc., and Hyundai Motor Group—aims to pool computing power and scientific expertise to develop software that can help researchers discover new materials for semiconductor manufacturing and other industries more quickly and at lower cost than conventional methods.

To support the effort, the Cambridge, England-based company has raised $450 million in Series B funding from investors that include Jeff Bezos' investment fund.

CuspAI co-founder and Chief Executive Officer Chad Edwards said much of the financing will support laboratories operated with foundry partners in Cambridge, Singapore, and the San Francisco Bay Area.

Edwards said that about 80% of the company's research efforts this year will focus on materials discovery.

One of CuspAI's primary objectives is to reduce or eliminate the use of supply-constrained metals in semiconductor manufacturing, including ruthenium and iridium, which face significant supply chain risks.