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§ Private Profile · Santa Clara, CA, USA
Nuvia is a technology company.
Nuvia designs high-performance, power-efficient System-on-Chips (SoCs) and custom central processing unit (CPU) cores. The company's technical approach focuses on reimagining silicon architecture to deliver industry-leading compute performance and energy efficiency. Its proprietary designs are optimized for scalability, aiming to set new benchmarks for demanding workloads.
Nuvia was co-founded in early 2019 by distinguished chip architects Gerard Williams III, Manu Gulati, and John Bruno. Leveraging extensive experience from leadership roles at Apple and Google, where they designed high-performance processors, their insight focused on developing more efficient silicon solutions for compute-intensive environments.
The company initially targeted data centers, aiming to provide superior processing capabilities for cloud infrastructure. Nuvia's vision seeks to redefine silicon design for a world generating ever-increasing data volumes. The firm delivers adaptable, high-performing processors capable of efficiently managing diverse and complex workloads across various platforms.
Nuvia has raised $295.0M across 3 funding rounds.
Nuvia has raised $295.0M in total across 3 funding rounds.
Nuvia has raised $295.0M across 3 funding rounds. Most recently, it raised $2.0M Seed in April 2025.
Nuvia has raised $295.0M in total across 3 funding rounds.
Nuvia's investors include Alumni Ventures, Astella, Dell Technologies Capital, Mayfield, Mithril Capital Management, Accel, Bain Capital Ventures, Bond, Craft Ventures, Jackson Square Ventures, Moderne Ventures, Norwest Venture Partners.
Nuvia was a semiconductor startup founded in 2019 that developed next-generation server CPU cores and processors optimized for data centers, targeting superior performance, energy efficiency, scaling, cost of ownership, and integration by applying mobile technology learnings to servers.[1][3][5] It served cloud and data center operators facing soaring compute demands in a cloud-based economy, solving the problem of outdated server chips from incumbents like Intel by delivering up to twice the speed in tests with its "Phoenix" processor.[3] Nuvia achieved rapid growth, assembling a 100-person team by late 2019 and securing Series B funding plans, before Qualcomm acquired it for $1.4 billion plus cash in March 2021, marking an "Exited" status for investors like Celesta Capital.[1][3]
(Note: A separate company named NUVIA, focused on nuclear engineering services, appears in results but is unrelated to this tech semiconductor firm.[2][4])
Nuvia emerged from a "dream team" of three semiconductor veterans—Manu Gulati, John Bruno, and Gerard Williams III—who had collaborated at Apple on A-series chips powering iPhones and iPads.[3] The idea crystallized in early 2018 when Gulati and Bruno, then at Google, envisioned a data center startup and recruited Williams from Apple to join, aiming to build super-fast, low-power server chips amid rising cloud demands.[3] Backed early by Mayfield's Navin Chaddha, who validated their thesis, Nuvia launched in 2019, quickly hired 100 experts, and developed the Phoenix processor, which outperformed competitors in tests—gaining pivotal traction despite the pandemic and industry shifts toward custom silicon.[1][3][5]
Nuvia stood out in the crowded chip market through:
Nuvia rode the data center silicon revolution, fueled by cloud hyperscalers' shift from Intel x86 dominance to custom ARM-based chips for better power efficiency and performance amid exploding AI/ML workloads.[3] Perfect timing in 2019 aligned with pandemic-accelerated cloud growth and giants like Amazon, Google, and Apple building in-house silicon, creating acquisition urgency—Qualcomm snapped it up to bolster its CPU portfolio against ARM competitors.[3][6] Nuvia influenced the ecosystem by validating mobile-to-server tech transfer, accelerating industry moves toward diverse, efficient architectures and inspiring similar startups.
Post-acquisition, Nuvia's tech powers Qualcomm's data center and PC ambitions, with Phoenix derivatives integrated into Snapdragon X Elite and server pushes, positioning Qualcomm to challenge Intel/AMD in AI-edge computing.[3][6] Trends like AI-driven compute demands and energy constraints will amplify its legacy, potentially evolving Qualcomm's influence in custom silicon for PCs, servers, and autos. As data center power wars intensify, Nuvia's blueprint—elite teams building efficient cores—remains a model for redefining high-performance silicon in a compute-intensive world.[1][3]