Cornelis Networks

AI Infrastructure · Networking · Semiconductors

Funding

Cornelis Networks raises $205M to take on Nvidia in AI networking

Its open fabric lets any GPU brand plug in, unlike Nvidia's software-locked stack that keeps customers buying its full lineup.

• Cornelis Networks raised $205 million in a funding round led by IAG Capital Partners, announced September 14, 2026.
• The Wayne, PA-based company, spun off from Intel in 2020, builds networking fabric that helps AI chips communicate and is now led by CEO Lisa Spelman.
• Alongside the raise, Cornelis unveiled Active Compute Fabric, a network architecture that lets chips process and transmit data simultaneously instead of idling while data arrives.
• The fabric is built on open standards like Ethernet, UALink, and Ultra Ethernet, letting customers mix GPUs and accelerators from different vendors rather than lock into one stack.
• The company has grown to over 250 employees since its 2020 spinout and already has customers including the Texas Advanced Computing Center and the U.S. Department of Energy.
• Cornelis has already begun shipping its current product and is developing a next-generation platform, the CN6000, expected to launch later this year.
• The round adds Cornelis to a wave of AI infrastructure startups aiming to chip away at Nvidia's dominance piece by piece, from GPUs to the networking layer connecting them.
• Nvidia's grip on AI infrastructure rests as much on software lock-in as on chip performance, so an open networking layer that works across GPU vendors attacks that moat directly.