Meta in talks to acquire RISC-V chip startup Rivos, sources confirm
The social media giant is pursuing the acquisition to strengthen its internal GPU development capabilities and reduce dependence on Nvidia hardware, according to Bloomberg sources.
Meta's artificial intelligence accelerator team is poised to expand significantly. The company is negotiating to purchase Rivos, a RISC-V-focused chip startup, as part of a broader strategy to build proprietary AI hardware and lessen its reliance on Nvidia GPUs. Bloomberg has reported on the unannounced transaction, which multiple sources have verified.
Operating in stealth mode, Rivos specializes in creating GPUs and AI accelerators built on the open-source RISC-V instruction set architecture. The startup's intellectual property encompasses system-on-chip designs and PCIe-based accelerators.
Meta has invested considerable effort into developing proprietary AI accelerators under the codename "Meta Training and Inference Accelerator." The MTIA platform, developed alongside Broadcom and manufactured at TSMC facilities, appears to leverage RISC-V technology. The accelerator underwent tape-outs in March and has already seen limited deployment across Meta's data center infrastructure, running alongside Nvidia hardware.
The specifics of any potential Rivos acquisition remain unclear at this stage. During a recent funding round, Rivos achieved a $2 billion valuation, suggesting the acquisition price could fall between nine and ten figures. Rivos may resist integration into Meta's internal development organization, which the social media company has reportedly sought for recent acquisitions. Additionally, the rumored transaction could still fall through, as the current status of negotiations remains unknown from outside perspectives.
Should Meta successfully acquire Rivos, the combination would position the company to develop one of the most prominent RISC-V chips to emerge in the market. The RISC-V architecture has not yet achieved substantial penetration in U.S. data center environments, remaining primarily confined to microcontroller units and Internet of Things applications, though recent developments from China are introducing RISC-V-based consumer tablets and laptops. A Meta-developed RISC-V AI accelerator capable of displacing Nvidia H200 processors in its own infrastructure would represent a significant milestone for the emerging instruction set.
Meta's pursuit of Rivos aligns with CEO Mark Zuckerberg's strategic focus on advancing "personal superintelligence" through expanded artificial intelligence capabilities. The company has been actively seeking acquisitions to strengthen internal teams. According to sources, Zuckerberg has expressed frustration with the development timeline for the MTIA initiative, with the next-generation tape-out still months away.
Rivos has a contentious history with Apple. In 2022, Apple filed a lawsuit alleging that Rivos had directed approximately 40 former Apple engineers to transfer gigabytes of proprietary information from Apple's system-on-chip division. The two companies reached a settlement in 2024 following Rivos's countersuit, in which the startup accused Apple of attempting to coerce its employees into rejecting employment offers from the new venture.
Source: Tom's Hardware