The archive · Hardware & Devices · Technical decision · 2024–2026
South Korea's iHW (아이에이치더블유) Bets on Analog Compute-in-Memory: KRW 52 Billion Series A
Veterans from Samsung, SK Hynix, and Intel founded iHW in June 2024, betting on power efficiency; its ACiM chip secured a KRW 52B Series A, totaling KRW 64B.
iHW (아이에이치더블유)
What the business is
An ultra-low-power AI semiconductor fabless company developing the AI chip Infertron with a neuromorphic + analog compute-in-memory architecture, targeting edge AI, humanoid robot SoCs, and data centers.
Starting capital：Series A of KRW 52 billion (about USD 37.5 million), cumulative fundraising of KRW 64 billion; additionally received more than USD 10 million in support from government AI semiconductor projects.
How it started
iHW was founded in June 2024 by senior executives and engineers from global semiconductor companies including Samsung Electronics, SK Hynix, and Intel, starting as a 'next-generation computing architecture' research group. The company targets the AI industry's increasingly severe power consumption and heat dissipation burden: data centers are repeatedly delayed or face resident opposition due to power and cooling issues, while edge AI is constrained by battery capacity.
What happened
The company developed the ultra-low-power AI chip Infertron, which uses an analog compute-in-memory structure to perform computation directly at the same location where weights are stored, reducing data movement while lowering power consumption and latency; the chip needs no external DRAM or flash memory, can operate on a single chip, and can be implemented on mature process nodes. In 2025, iHW won multiple government AI semiconductor projects, receiving more than USD 10 million (about KRW 14.1 billion) in funding, and co-developed a low-power SoC for humanoid robots with the Korea Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute (KETI).
How it ended up
On August 19, 2026, the company announced the completion of a KRW 52 billion Series A round led by Kolon Investment (科隆投资), with existing shareholders Woori Venture Partners, Mirae Asset (未来资产), and DSC Investment following on, Korea Development Bank (韩国产业银行) entering as a new investor, and LIG Defense & Aerospace (LIG防务与航空航天), together with IBK Capital (IBK资本), participating; cumulative fundraising reached KRW 64 billion. The funds will be used for mass production of edge AI chips, pilot production of LLM chips, and market development.
Background
iHW, a South Korean fabless AI chip startup founded June 2024 by Samsung, SK Hynix, and Intel veterans, closed a KRW 52B Series A on Aug 19, 2026, led by Kolon Investment, with Korea Development Bank joining, totaling KRW 64B raised.
iHW bets AI's next bottleneck is electricity, not compute. Data centers face power and cooling delays, edge AI battery limits, and digital NPUs waste energy moving weights. iHW's analog compute-in-memory (ACiM) computes at storage, needing no external DRAM, runs on mature nodes, and runs cool without heat sinks.
Pre-Series A, iHW won 2025 government projects worth over USD 10M and co-developed a low-power SoC for humanoid robots with ETRI. Kolon Investment noted successful silicon validation and edge market opportunities in smart cities, industrial vision, and robotics that digital NPUs can't cover due to heat and battery limits.
What has to be true
- AI's constraint shifted from compute to electricity: data centers face power delays, edge devices battery limits, making power a monetizable pain.
- ACiM computes at weight storage, saving data movement power and latency, using mature nodes to avoid high costs.
- Team from Samsung, SK Hynix, Intel brings mass-production experience and networks, making fabless credible.
- Government projects validated the tech early, so Series A came after proof, not just pitch.
What can be applied
When rivals chase advanced nodes, a contrarian bet on power-efficient chips can raise money: treat power and heat as product definitions, not details.
Aftermath
As of August 19, 2026, iHW completed the KRW 52 billion Series A and announced it would direct funds to mass production of edge AI chips, pilot production and marketing of LLM chips, and headcount expansion, while continuing to advance the joint development of a low-power SoC for humanoid robots with KETI. The company has not disclosed a product mass-production timeline or revenue; Kolon Investment assessed that it had passed silicon validation of core modules and has the potential to capture the edge market.
Sources
- 삼전닉스·인텔 출신 뭉쳤다…AI 반도체 'iHW', 520억 투자유치
- Low-Power AI Chip Startup iHW Raises 52 Billion Won in Series A
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