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In a significant development for India’s deeptech landscape, Bengaluru based C2i Semiconductors has closed a $15 million funding round led by Peak XV Partners, with participation from Yali Deeptech and TDK Ventures. The company had previously raised $4 million from deeptech venture fund Yali Capital in November 2024. The investment marks a pivotal step as the startup transitions from early stage development to global commercialisation, underscoring growing investor confidence in homegrown semiconductor ventures addressing critical challenges in artificial intelligence infrastructure.
A Purpose Built Solution for the AI Power Crisis
Founded in June 2024 by six co-founders – Ram Anant, Vikram Gakhar, Preetam Tadeparthy, Dattatreya Suryanarayana, Harsha S B, and Muthusubramanian N V – C2i Semiconductors is developing power management solutions specifically engineered for AI data centres and cloud infrastructure. The company’s core thesis rests on system level innovation: rethinking how power flows from the grid to the processor core. Its architecture is designed to recover 8–10% efficiency, improve GPU performance by approximately 3%, and meaningfully extend server lifetimes with a 10% efficiency gain translating to nearly 1 kW saved per server tray, adding up to hundreds of kilowatts across large deployments.
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Expansion Plans and Product Roadmap
The fresh capital will be deployed towards global expansion, beginning with the establishment of a US office to strengthen proximity to customers and key decision makers, followed by an applications and systems engineering team in Taiwan. On the product front, C2i’s first chip is scheduled for tapeout in April, with a second to follow in July. One chip will be manufactured at Tower Semiconductor in Israel, while the other will be fabricated at GlobalFoundries in either Singapore or Dallas.
A Market Primed for Disruption
AI infrastructure capital expenditure is projected to reach $500–600 billion over the next 12–18 months, with forecasts suggesting the figure could approach $1 trillion by 2030. Against this backdrop, power efficiency has become one of the most pressing concerns for hyperscalers and enterprise operators alike. C2i is already in discussions with three to four enterprise server customers to define components for their next generation platforms signalling early traction that may well accelerate as its silicon enters the market. With marquee investors and a roadmap anchored in real world data centre economics, C2i Semiconductors is well positioned to compete at a global level in one of the most technically demanding industries in the world.
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