San Francisco, October 6: AI chip startup Etched is fielding investment offers at valuations of 40 to 50 billion dollars, according to TechCrunch.

That is roughly double its September round, when it raised 700 million dollars at a 21 billion dollar valuation. The earlier round itself followed a July raise of 300 million at 10.3 billion, led by Sequoia.

Bids at the 40-billion level come from top-tier investors. Offers as high as 50 billion come from lesser-known backers. The talks are early and terms may change. Etched declined to comment.

The four-year-old startup builds full AI hardware systems powered by its own chips. It claims its processors handle more tokens faster and cheaper than Nvidia's.

Etched said in July it had secured 1 billion dollars in customer orders. Jane Street, the quant trading firm, led the last round and is also a customer. About 15 per cent of its roughly 400 staff are former Nvidia employees.