Yet another artificial intelligence chipmaker has snagged a major funding round.

Austin-based startup Mythic Inc. announced today that it has raised $40 million for its “intelligence processing units,” which are specifically designed handle AI workloads.

Founded in 2012, Mythic developed its own hardware and software to build an AI platform that be integrated into nearly any device, including smartphones, drones, security cameras and more. The startup claims that its platform allows it to “put desktop GPU compute capabilities onto a module the size of a shirt button and data-center compute capabilities onto a card-deck sized platform.”

JP Lee, managing director at lead investor SoftBank Ventures, called Mythic “a clear leader in the rapidly growing AI edge chip market.” Chris Moran, vice president and general manager of new investor Lockheed Martin Ventures, said that Mythic’s platform can offer customers “the unmatched ability to obtain timely, actionable information from distributed, power constrained systems.”

“The world will be very different 10 years from now,” Mythic co-founder and Chief Executive Michael Henry said in a statement. “Mythic will play a major role in the machines, devices, and electronics that make that difference.” He added that Mythic will help SoftBank achieve its vision for the future of AI by offering “incredibly powerful compute at the edge that is cost-efficient and low-power enough to run on batteries.”

Besides SoftBank, the Series B round included existing investors DFJ, Lux Capital, Data Collective and AME Cloud Ventures, as well as new investors Lockheed and Sun Microsystems Inc. co-founder and serial entrepreneur Andy Bechtolsheim. Mythic, which has offices in both Austin, Texas, and Redwood City, California, has raised more than $55 million in funding to date.

In addition to Mythic’s impressive funding round, the startup also announced today that its board will be joined by Rene Haas, president of the IP Product Group at mobile chip maker Arm Holding plc. Arm recently announced that it would be creating its own line of dedicated AI chips, so the addition of Haas could certainly boost Mythic’s reputation as a legitimate chip provider.

Of course, Mythic also has plenty of competition in the young AI platform market, and some of its rivals have also won major funding and support from industry giants. For example, less than a week ago Palo Alto-based AI chip startup SambaNova Systems closed a $52 million funding round, which included participation from Google LLC parent company Alphabet Inc.

Photo: Mythic