The U.S. Commerce Department will issue the financing via its semiconductor R&D program. Extropic, which is based in San Francisco and Waltham, Mass., will use the funding to develop its thermodynamic sampling unit (TSU) technology. (The Logic)

Talking point: Canadian mathematician Guillaume Verdon co-founded the startup in June 2022 after working on quantum research at Google. Extropic’s TSUs calculate probabilities rather than binary outcomes, which it claims makes them much more efficient than the graphics processing units (GPUs) that currently dominate AI compute. The firm’s chips can also be manufactured using older technology, so they’re less expensive to produce and can be made in U.S. facilities. Extropic aims to “help return the United States to compute dominance,” said Verdon, who did a doctorate at the University of Waterloo. He’s perhaps best known by his X handle BasedBeffJezos, which originated the idea of “effective accelerationism,” or advancing technology like AI as fast as possible and over any opposition. Extropic’s cheaper compute would contribute to that goal. Investors include Shopify’s Tobi Lütke as well as Aidan Gomez and Ivan Zhang of Cohere.