Meta Acquires Rivos for $2B, Boosting AI Chip Development

Meta Platforms has acquired Rivos Inc., a startup building GPUs for AI workloads, in a deal reportedly worth $2 billion. The acquisition underscores Meta's determination to control its infrastructure and reduce reliance on Nvidia. CEO Mark Zuckerberg has made AI a defining bet, with Meta pledging up to $72 billion in capital expenditures this year towards data centers and AI infrastructure. The deal could represent a critical reinforcement of Meta's AI hardware efforts and reshape its ability to power next-gen AI models.

Meta Platforms has acquired Rivos Inc., a startup specializing in GPUs for AI workloads, in a deal reportedly worth $2 billion. This acquisition underscores Meta's determination to control its infrastructure and reduce reliance on Nvidia. CEO Mark Zuckerberg has made AI a defining bet, with Meta pledging up to $72 billion in capital expenditures this year towards data centers and AI infrastructure. The deal could represent a critical reinforcement of Meta's AI hardware efforts and reshape its ability to power next-gen AI models.

Rivos is developing a RISC-V–based AI GPU, with its first product being a server chip that combines a CPU and AI accelerator, optimized for large language models and data analytics. The acquisition will accelerate Meta's plan to start using Meta-designed chips for AI training by 2026. Meta already has an internal AI chip project (MTIA) but still spends billions on Nvidia GPUs for training and inference.

The deal fits into Meta's broader strategy of cutting costs and controlling key AI infrastructure. Earlier this year, Meta offered about $800M for South Korea’s FuriosaAI, which was declined. The Rivos deal is part of Meta's effort to decrease its dependence on external chip suppliers for its AI operations. For Meta's consumer products, cheaper AI chips could pay dividends, as the company has ambitious AI features that require heavy compute.

Meta’s AI Ambitions and In-House Chips
Meta has been heavily investing in AI infrastructure. In March 2025, Reuters reported that Meta started testing its first custom AI training chip and plans to bring chip development in-house to reduce reliance on external suppliers like Nvidia. Meta’s capital spending is enormous (over $65 billion in 2025 projected for AI capex), and executives say using their own chips could slash AI compute costs in the long term.

Rivos: Silicon Valley’s RISC-V Innovator
Rivos was founded in 2021 and has kept a low profile until now. Its chip is built on RISC-V, an open-source instruction set that avoids licensing fees. The company has raised $250 million to produce its first server chip, which combines a CPU core and an AI accelerator on a single die, optimized for running large language models and analytics workloads.

The acquisition of Rivos by Meta is part of a broader AI chip arms race. Nvidia holds roughly 80–90% of the high-end AI chip market, but rivals are emerging. Intel has its Gaudi chips and acquired Habana Labs; AMD is planning new AI accelerators; and even Apple and Google design their own chipsets. Meta, like Amazon (with its Trainium chips) and Google (TPUs), is seeking more control. The cost of training AI is enormous, and any reduction in hardware cost can improve margins significantly.

Meta’s leadership appears undeterred by the challenges. The company is doubling down on building its own AI supercomputer, one chip at a time. The Rivos acquisition is a significant step towards this goal, providing Meta with skilled chip designers and ready-made GPU designs that might otherwise take years to develop from scratch.

References

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