Eliyan

Semiconductors · AI Infrastructure · Interconnect Technology

Funding

Eliyan raises $145M Series C, becomes a $1B unicorn in AI chip links

AI chips reportedly run at just 30-40% utilization because they idle waiting for data, the bottleneck this round targets.

• Eliyan closed a $145 million Series C at a $1 billion valuation, led by Seligman Ventures with new strategic backers Cisco Investments and Lumentum joining, the company announced July 29, 2026.
• The Santa Clara startup builds chiplet interconnect technology, including NuLink PHYs and NuGear chiplets, that link dies, chips and racks in AI compute and memory systems.
• Seligman Ventures managing partner Umesh Padval, who previously sat on Mellanox's board during its $6.8 billion sale to Nvidia, is joining Eliyan's board as part of the deal.
• Eliyan's CEO says AI GPUs today run at only 30-40% utilization, largely because they can't receive data as fast as they can process it.
• The company expects to begin initial chiplet shipments this year and forecasts revenue growing to hundreds of millions of dollars by the end of 2027, up from low single-digit millions in 2025.
• Nvidia tackled the same chip-to-chip data bottleneck by acquiring networking firm Mellanox for $6.8 billion in 2019, while Google and Amazon lean on Broadcom and Marvell; Eliyan is positioning itself as an independent alternative.
• As custom AI chip designs proliferate beyond Nvidia and AMD, independent interconnect providers like Eliyan become critical plumbing for hyperscalers who don't want to depend on a single networking vendor.