Raja Koduri, former chief architect at Intel, has founded Oxmiq Labs, a GPU startup focused on developing and licensing RISC-V International architecture-based GPU hardware and software intellectual property (IP). The company secured US$20 million in funding from investors, including MediaTek.
Oxmiq Labs targets multimodal AI with modular GPU design
Oxmiq Labs intends to build GPUs from the ground up, specifically for multimodal AI applications. According to reports from Tom's Hardware and Wccftech, the startup positions itself as Silicon Valley's first GPU company in 25 years to adopt an asset-light business model. This strategy emphasizes GPU IP licensing and software platform development over costly chip mass production and electronic design automation (EDA) tool investments.
The company's flagship product, the OxCore GPU core, features a modular design that integrates scalar, vector, and tensor compute units. It supports near-memory and in-memory computing, targeting AI and multimodal workloads. In parallel, Oxmiq is developing the OxQuilt chiplet system-on-chip (SoC) platform. This allows customizable configurations of compute, memory, and interconnect modules aligned with specific application demands, such as edge AI accelerators or large-scale training SoCs. Details remain unclear on whether OxQuilt is intended for single-chip or multi-chip assembly.
Software innovation drives Oxmiq's differentiation
A critical element of Oxmiq Labs' approach is its software stack, which includes the OXCapsule unified execution and scheduling layer. This technology abstracts hardware differences by packaging applications into "heterogeneous containers," enabling developers to deploy AI and graphics workloads across CPUs, GPUs, and AI accelerators without requiring code modifications.
Additionally, Oxmiq offers OXPython, a software solution that converts Nvidia CUDA-dependent Python workloads to run within its execution environment. This facilitates the operation of CUDA-based Python applications on non-Nvidia hardware without rewriting code. Initially, OXPython will be deployed on accelerators from Tenstorrent, such as the Wormhole and Blackhole, instead of Oxmiq's hardware, reflecting the company's platform-neutral strategy.
Koduri's track record spans industry giants
Raja Koduri brings extensive experience to Oxmiq Labs. His career includes roles such as senior director and CTO at Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) from 2001 to 2009, a tenure at Apple, and a return to AMD as corporate vice president and chief architect of enterprise products. He joined Intel in 2017 as chief architect, senior vice president, and general manager, overseeing the development and launch of the Arc consumer GPUs and Ponte Vecchio data center GPUs. Koduri left Intel in April 2023 to focus on Oxmiq Labs.
Article edited by Jerry Chen
