Silicon Box, a Singapore-based startup, focuses on chiplets, a developing method of designing high-performing semiconductors through arranging small chips closely and reducing their electrical connections. Recently, the startup raised $200 million in a Series B funding round. Chiplet technology has been around for a decade but its adoption is accelerating as traditional methods of making smaller chips become more difficult and expensive.

Silicon Box’s funding round saw participation from BlueRun Ventures, BRV Capital, Event Horizon Capital, Maverick Capital, Prasedium Capital, TDK Ventures, and UMC Capital. The company’s three billionaire co-founders also contributed, including Sehat Sutardja and Weili Dai, who co-founded Marvell Technology, and Byung Joon Han, former CEO of Stats ChipPac. After the Series B round, Silicon Box’s total funding reached $410 million, with a valuation of $1.08 billion, earning it the label of a unicorn startup.

Silicon Box’s specialty lies in creating chiplets, interchangeable components that are combined together to create a single unit. The company claims that its sub-5-micron technology can optimize power usage and reduce manufacturing costs by up to 90%. Silicon Box operates from a geopolitically neutral location – Singapore, which has been heavily investing in the semiconductor space.

Sehat Sutardja commented on the necessity to innovate chip production, highlighting the exponential cost increase of single-chip devices. Sutardja was a pioneer of chiplet technology and, despite initial commercial rejection, his concept has gained traction among industry leaders. Various semiconductor giants have endorsed chiplets, and Silicon Box aims to assist the industry’s growth in this direction.

Silicon Box’s market competitors primarily consist of outsourced semiconductor assembly and test vendors (OSATs), which package and test chips that foundries produce. Prominent OSATs include billionaire Jason Chang’s ASE Technology and Arizona’s Nasdaq-listed Amkor Technology. Developments in technologies like chiplets are set to significantly impact the semiconductor industry.

Source: Chipping In: Billionaire-Founded Unicorn Startup Makes Semiconductor ‘Chiplets’ For The AI Boom.