Raja Koduri Raises $35M to License OxCore GPU Architecture

Oxmiq Labs, founded by chip architecture veteran Raja Koduri, announced the close of a Series A round of $35 million on July 4, 2026. The funds will be directed toward scaling OxCore — a licensable GPU architecture that allows chip makers to create custom AI accelerators without launching their own multi-year development programs. The total capital raised since the company's founding reached $60 million.

What is OxCore

OxCore is a GPU architecture that Oxmiq provides under license. A chip manufacturer acquires the right to use the design, receives an engineering foundation, and adapts it for specific tasks: inference, training AI models, or embedded accelerators for edge devices. Oxmiq, meanwhile, does not manufacture its own chips — the company monetizes the architectural design directly.

The fundamental difference of OxCore from ready-made GPUs lies in flexibility: the licensee optimizes the architecture for a specific process technology, target power consumption, or specific workload characteristics, without overpaying for unnecessary features.

The business model resembles Arm Holdings: that company has for decades licensed processor cores to manufacturers from Apple to Qualcomm, without producing its own chips. Oxmiq is betting that similar logic will work for GPUs, where vertically integrated giants currently dominate.

• Series A round — $35 million, closed July 4, 2026
• Total investments since founding — $60 million
• Product — OxCore, a licensable GPU architecture for AI chips
• Model: licensing design, not selling ready-made chips
• Founder — Raja Koduri, one of the industry's leading GPU architects

Why manufacturers seek ready-made GPU architecture

Creating a GPU core from scratch is slow, expensive, and risky. The traditional design cycle takes several years and requires a team of hundreds of engineers before the first chip reaches production. For most companies wanting to enter the AI accelerator market, this is an insurmountable barrier.

In parallel, large technology companies — cloud providers, hyperscalers, telecommunications equipment manufacturers — are diversifying AI hardware supplies and developing custom chips for their workloads. They need an architectural foundation they can license, adapt, and bring to production faster than building from scratch. OxCore is positioned precisely as such a building block.

Against this backdrop, the concept of "GPU architecture as a service" looks like a logical next step: instead of creating an entirely new GPU stack, a manufacturer takes a proven licensed foundation and focuses on differentiating its product.

Who is Raja Koduri

Raja Koduri is one of the key figures in the GPU industry over the past two decades. He led the development of graphics solutions at AMD, overseeing the Radeon series architectures, then moved to Intel, where he headed the discrete GPU Xe Graphics program. After leaving Intel, Koduri founded Oxmiq Labs with the ambition to create a licensing model for GPU design — a market where such an infrastructure player did not yet exist.

Experience working at two of the industry's largest GPU companies gives Koduri a rare position: he understands both the architectural limitations of existing solutions and the real needs of manufacturers seeking independence from dominant suppliers.

What it means

$60 million in total investments and a closed Series A is a signal that the venture market seriously believes in the "GPU architecture as a service" model. If OxCore proves viable in serial production, it could shift the structure of the AI chip market from its current concentration toward a broader ecosystem of custom designs based on a shared architectural foundation.