C2i Semiconductors Secures Major Funding Boost
Semiconductor innovator C2i Semiconductors has secured $15 million in a funding round led by Peak XV Partners. Yali Deeptech and TDK Ventures also participated in the investment. The startup focuses on power management solutions tailored for AI data centers and cloud infrastructure, delivering system-level innovations that optimize power flow from the grid to processor cores.
Founders and Expertise
Established in 2024, C2i Semiconductors was founded by Ram Anant, Vikram Gakhar, Preetam Tadeparthy, and Dattatreya Suryanarayana, alongside cofounders Harsha S B and Muthusubramanian N V. The team comprises former Texas Instruments executives.
“The core idea behind C2i is power management. Without clean, reliable power, there is no GPU and no AI,” stated CEO and cofounder Ram Anant. The company develops “grid-to-core” power delivery platforms to tackle power challenges across enterprise server architectures.
Previous Funding and Product Roadmap
In November 2024, C2i raised $4 million in a Series A round led by Yali Capital and semiconductor veteran Lip-Bu Tan. The startup accelerates from design to production, with its first product set for tapeout in April and a second in July. One chip will be produced at Tower Semiconductor in Israel, while another heads to GlobalFoundries in either Singapore or Dallas.
Addressing AI Power Challenges
Power demands in AI systems have skyrocketed. “Power used to be treated as basic infrastructure, but GPU power consumption has grown exponentially,” noted CTO Preetam Tadeparthy. “GPUs that earlier consumed a few hundred watts now consume several kilowatts, and hyperscale data centers operate at megawatt levels.”
Data centers receive power at around 800 volts, which converts to a stable 800 millivolts for GPUs. Current processes lose 15-18% in efficiency, and power instability can reduce GPU performance by nearly 10%, according to Tadeparthy.
C2i’s architecture promises 8-10% efficiency gains, up to 3% better GPU performance, and longer server lifespans. A 10% efficiency improvement saves roughly 1 kW per server tray, scaling to hundreds of kilowatts in large deployments and boosting operator ROI.
Customer Engagement and Global Expansion
The company engages with three to four enterprise server customers to customize components for next-generation platforms. CEO Anant anticipates India’s data center ecosystem maturing around 2028-2030, so C2i targets global players initially.
New funds will establish a U.S. office for closer customer access and a Taiwan team for applications and systems engineering to support ODMs and secure design wins.
Market Potential
AI infrastructure capital expenditure could hit $500-600 billion in the next 12-18 months, reaching $1 trillion by 2030, per Tadeparthy. Power-related semiconductors offer a $50-75 billion market, with the grid-to-core segment at $5-8 billion.
“Power has become a major bottleneck in scaling AI. Addressing this challenge requires deep expertise across hardware and systems,” said Rajan Anandan, managing director at Peak XV Partners. He highlighted how C2i’s power management extends GPU longevity and delivers billions in industry savings.
