Gavin Uberti studied at Harvard University and left before graduating. He worked on AI compilers as a software engineer at OctoML and had interned at Xnor.ai, which gave him a view of how far software tuning could go on general-purpose chips.
In 2022 he started Etched with fellow Harvard dropouts Chris Zhu and Robert Wachen, and the three were named Thiel Fellows. Their bet was a chip built for one model type, the transformer, rather than a chip that runs everything.
In June 2024 Etched announced a $120 million Series A for its Sohu chip. A round at about a $5 billion valuation followed in December 2025, and a $500 million raise in January 2026 was reported.
Etched left stealth on 30 June 2026 with a working Sohu chip, about $800 million raised and more than $1 billion in signed customer contracts. A $300 million Series C led by Sequoia valued it at $10.3 billion in July 2026, and a $700 million round led by Jane Street valued it at $21 billion in August 2026.