Etched, a startup competing with Nvidia, has made significant progress with its AI chip, booking $1 billion in contract orders and raising $800 million in funding to date. The company’s product, called frontier inference clusters, aims to help AI models run faster and more efficiently. Etched’s success is a testament to the growing demand for specialized AI chips, and its investors include notable names in the tech industry. Why it matters: Etched’s breakthroughs are significant in the broader AI landscape as they address the current bottleneck and cost center of inference, making AI more scalable and accessible to companies.