NVIDIA Backs SiFive’s $400M for Data Center CPUs

According to industry reports, Silicon Valley startup SiFive has secured $400 million in new funding from investors including Atreides Management, NVIDIA, and several leading institutional firms, as it accelerates its expansion into the fast-growing data center CPU market.

Additional participants in the funding round include Apollo Global Management, Point72, and accounts managed by T. Rowe Price, along with existing backers such as Prosperity 7 Ventures and Sutter Hill Ventures. The latest financing round values SiFive at approximately $3.65 billion.

SiFive CEO Patrick Little indicated that this is expected to be the company’s final funding round before filing for an initial public offering (IPO), although no specific timeline has been disclosed.

Unlike traditional semiconductor manufacturers, SiFive focuses on licensing chip designs rather than producing physical chips. Its customers—including Google—use these designs to develop customized in-house processors. This intellectual property (IP) model has long been dominated by Arm Holdings. However, Arm’s recent move in March to introduce its own chips has positioned it as a potential competitor to many of its long-standing clients.

Patrick Little noted that Arm’s strategic shift is creating new opportunities for SiFive to attract customers seeking greater flexibility. The company’s designs are based on the RISC-V Foundation open-standard architecture, which is not controlled by any single company—offering a distinct alternative to proprietary Arm-based solutions.

“Customers are increasingly uncertain about what their traditional suppliers will be able to deliver in the coming years,” Little said. “After a decade of collaboration, they are confident that RISC-V has matured into a viable long-term option.”

SiFive plans to use the newly raised capital to develop a high-performance CPU platform tailored for data centers. The segment is rapidly gaining momentum, with Arm Holdings recently launching new products, NVIDIA expanding its presence, and Intel facing demand that continues to outpace supply.

“We are aiming for the highest level of achievement in the data center space,” Little added, underscoring the company’s ambition to compete at the top tier of the CPU market.