PowerLattice, a Seattle-area startup reimagining how power is delivered to AI chips, has emerged from stealth with $25 million in Series A funding led by Playground Global and Celesta Capital, bringing its total funding to $31 million. The company’s breakthrough technology—a power delivery chiplet—cuts compute power needs by over 50%, effectively doubling performance and helping overcome the growing energy crisis in data centers. The innovation is especially critical as AI accelerators and GPUs now exceed 2 kilowatts per chip, pushing data centers to their power limits. Without a new approach, data center energy use could triple by 2028, consuming up to 12% of U.S. electricity. At the heart of PowerLattice’s solution is a chiplet that brings power delivery directly into the processor package, drastically shortening the power path and minimizing energy loss from resistive wiring. By integrating proprietary miniaturized on-die magnetic inductors, advanced voltage control circuits, a vertical design, and a programmable software layer, the chiplet delivers power precisely where and when it’s needed. This tight coupling of power and compute reduces inefficiencies inherent in traditional systems, where high-current electricity travels long distances through resistive paths, generating heat and wasting energy. CEO Dr. Peng Zou, a veteran of Qualcomm, NUVIA, and Intel, says the company’s approach “redefines how chips are powered,” enabling AI to scale beyond current physical and energy constraints. “AI is not constrained by capital—it’s constrained by power,” Zou emphasized. The technology is compatible with existing system-on-a-chip (SoC) designs, allowing easy integration while shrinking the overall footprint of processors. The startup’s first chiplet batch is already being manufactured by TSMC, with testing underway in partnership with an unnamed manufacturer. PowerLattice plans to offer engineering samples for testing to major chipmakers like Nvidia, AMD, Broadcom, and specialized AI firms such as Cerberus, Grok, d-Matrix, and NextSilicon by early 2026. Pat Gelsinger, former Intel CEO and general partner at Playground Global, called PowerLattice’s work a “generational leap” in computing efficiency. He praised the founding team—Zou, Gang Ren, and Sujith Dermal—for assembling deep expertise in integrated magnetics, analog ICs, and power management. Gelsinger, who was so impressed by the pitch that he took a selfie with the founders, believes the technology will attract significant industry interest and could disrupt traditional power delivery methods. While competitors like Empower Semiconductor are also tackling power efficiency—raising $140 million in a recent round—Gelsinger believes PowerLattice’s 50% efficiency gain is unmatched and expects the company to soon raise a larger funding round to scale production. With AI demand surging and data centers hitting a “power wall,” PowerLattice’s chiplet represents a pivotal solution to one of the most pressing challenges in modern computing. By solving the energy bottleneck at the hardware level, the company could unlock the next era of AI scalability, performance, and sustainability.