Jeff Bezos invests in CuspAI as AI startup targets chipmaking breakthroughs
CuspAI raises $450M with Bezos backing, teams up with Nvidia
Jeff Bezos backed British artificial intelligence startup CuspAI, which has raised $450 million and launched a new partnership with Nvidia to accelerate the discovery of advanced materials for semiconductors, clean energy and manufacturing.
The funding round values CuspAI at $2.6 billion and was led by Kleiner Perkins and NEA, with participation from Bezos Expeditions, AMD Ventures, Lux Capital, Glade Brook Capital Partners and the UK's Sovereign AI Venture Fund.
CuspAI uses AI to discover new materials
CuspAI develops AI models that simulate how new materials will perform before they are tested in laboratories, helping researchers narrow millions of possible combinations more quickly.
The company aims to speed up discoveries that could improve semiconductor production, carbon capture, clean water technologies and advanced manufacturing.
"Most big leaps in technology come down to a material," Kleiner Perkins partner Josh Coyne said, adding that CuspAI's platform acts as a search engine for discovering new materials.
Nvidia joins AI Materials Foundry
Alongside the funding announcement, CuspAI unveiled its AI Materials Foundry, a global network combining AI models, scientific expertise, laboratories and computing infrastructure.
Nvidia is one of 45 organisations contributing computing power to the initiative, while Meta's Fundamental AI Research team has also joined the project.
Chief executive Chad Edwards said the partnership is designed to accelerate breakthroughs across semiconductors, energy and advanced manufacturing.
Startup expands global footprint
CuspAI said it is opening a new office in Singapore while expanding teams across the UK, Germany, the Netherlands, Japan and the United States.
The company joins a growing number of AI startups focused on applying artificial intelligence to real-world engineering and scientific challenges rather than software alone.
Bezos has also backed similar efforts through Prometheus, an AI engineering company launched in 2025 that focuses on invention and physical engineering.