Meta To Acquire RISC-V Startup Rivos to Bolster In-House Chips Capabilities

Meta Platforms Inc. is reportedly acquiring Rivos Inc., a chip startup focused on RISC-V architecture, as part of its efforts to deepen in-house semiconductor capabilities and reduce reliance on external suppliers like Nvidia.

Rivos, based in Santa Clara with strengths in full-stack AI system design, has counted Meta among its clients. Sources suggest the startup was nearing a funding round at a $2 billion valuation prior to acquisition talks.

Meta already has a custom chip project — the Meta Training and Inference Accelerator (MTIA) — but continues to rely heavily on GPUs from external vendors. The Rivos acquisition aims to accelerate Meta’s internal silicon development and cut infrastructure costs tied to advanced AI workloads.

Meta’s engineering VP, Yee Jiun Song, said in a LinkedIn post that Rivos brings “expertise in building full-stack AI systems” to bolster Meta’s hardware ambitions.

Meta Is Said to Acquire Chips Startup Rivos to Push AI Effort | Yee Jiun (YJ) Song

I’m excited to share that Meta intends to acquire Rivos Inc. to help us accelerate our vision for scalable compute to power our AI ambitions. It has been exhilarating to work on our AI accelerator program, MTIA, over the last couple of years. Given the success of our first two AI accelerators, we are eager to accelerate and expand our MTIA roadmap. Rivos has deep technical expertise and experience designing and developing the full stack of AI systems. We are excited to work together to further our AI efforts. https://lnkd.in/g7zGr6tB

LinkedInYee Jiun (YJ) Song

Terms of the deal were not disclosed, and Rivos has not publicly commented. Analysts view this move as evidence that Meta is serious about controlling more of its AI infrastructure stack, from chips to software.