Positron Secures $23.5M to Design And Manufacture Energy-Efficient, Made-In-America AI Chips
Media Contact:
Helen Cho
Bonfire Partners
helen@bonfirepartners.io
Positron, a rising force in AI inference technology for artificial intelligence computing, has raised $23.5 million in funding from a group of investors, including Flume Ventures, Valor Equity Partners, Atreides Management, and Resilience Reserve. The funding will enable Positron to scale production of its U.S.-manufactured, energy-efficient AI chips, providing enterprises with a cost-effective alternative to Nvidia’s AI hardware. They are already shipping products to data centers and neoclouds around the country — a feat that is almost insurmountable to chip startups with hundreds of millions or more in backing; and a testament to the rapid product-market fit Positron has achieved since launching in 2023.
As businesses grapple with AI capex, escalating costs, and vendor lock-in, Positron offers a high-performance, energy-efficient alternative to customers. Positron’s Atlas systems are presently achieving 3.5x better performance per dollar and 3.5x greater power efficiency than Nvidia H100 GPUs for inference. Leveraging a memory-optimized architecture that hits >93% bandwidth utilization (vs. 10–30% for GPUs), Positron’s FPGA-powered servers support trillion-parameter models while offering plug-and-play compatibility with Hugging Face and OpenAI APIs. These systems deliver 70% faster inference at 66% lower power consumption than H100/H200 setups, slashing data center CapEx by 50%.
Beyond the specs–of equal importance in an ecosystem subject to global political and economic tensions–the company’s first-generation Atlas systems are entirely designed, manufactured, and assembled in the U.S.
Leadership and Vision: Driving the Next Generation of AI Compute
At the helm of Positron’s next phase of growth is Mitesh Agrawal, the company’s newly appointed CEO. Agrawal previously served as an executive at Lambda, the AI unicorn he helped grow from $500K to $500M in annualized revenue, while securing over $1B in funding. He now joins Positron’s Co-Founders, Thomas Sohmers and Edward Kmett, to drive the company’s mission of delivering domestically made AI compute solutions. Sohmers–a Thiel Fellow and experienced entrepreneur–currently serves as Positron’s Chief Technology Officer, while Kmett–a world-renowned mathematician and functional programming expert–serves as Positron’s Chief Scientist.
“With this funding, we’re scaling at a pace that AI hardware has never seen before–from expanding shipments of our first-generation products to bringing our second generation accelerators to market in 2026,” said Mitesh Agrawal, CEO of Positron. “Our solution is growing rapidly because it outperforms conventional GPUs in both cost and energy efficiency, while delivering AI hardware that eliminates reliance on foreign supply chains.”
A Domestic Alternative to Global AI Hardware
Unlike many semiconductor companies that rely on offshore manufacturing, Positron has built a fully American supply chain, ensuring that its AI hardware is designed, fabricated, and assembled within the United States.
“Investing in domestic AI hardware is a strategic imperative when it comes to securing America’s global AI posture,” said Scott McNealy, Operating Partner at Flume Ventures. “Positron is proving that world-class AI compute doesn’t have to come from overseas, and we’re excited to support their mission to make the U.S. a leader in AI hardware manufacturing.”
Beyond cost savings, Positron’s technology is addressing the growing power constraints of AI infrastructure. Many legacy data centers struggle to support high-power GPUs, which consume as much as 10,000 watts per server—far beyond the capacity of traditional data centers. Positron’s energy-efficient architecture allows these facilities to participate in AI computing without requiring massive infrastructure upgrades.
“The demand for AI compute is skyrocketing, and enterprises are searching for viable alternatives that are energy and cost efficient for the long term,” said Rob Reid, Co-founder of Resilience Reserve. “What sets Positron apart is not just its cost efficiency, but its ability to bring AI hardware to market at an unprecedented speed and provide a high performance per watt. Their innovative approach is enabling businesses to scale AI workloads without the typical barriers of cost and power consumption.”
As the AI landscape evolves, enterprises are demanding solutions that not only enhance performance and efficiency but also provide long-term flexibility and sustainability. Positron’s continued momentum signals a shift in the industry—one where innovation, accessibility, and domestic manufacturing converge to redefine the future of AI hardware.
About Positron
Positron is redefining AI hardware with its advanced inference systems that deliver unmatched performance, energy efficiency, and scalability. Designed and manufactured entirely in the United States, Positron empowers data centers and enterprises to unlock the full potential of their AI workloads while reducing dependency on Nvidia and achieving greater operational freedom. Learn more at positron.ai.
View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20250211936199/en/
