a16z creates a $1.1B ‘Machine Age’ fund to ‘accelerate the physical buildout of AI’

Andreessen Horowitz has launched a new “Machine Age” fund with $1.1 billion raised.

The firm’s aim with the new fund is to “open the throttle and accelerate the physical buildout of AI.” The fund will focus on hardware, bucking the firm’s typical focus on the scaling power of software.

In a post on the venture capital firm’s website, a16z says the fund will focus on investing in the infrastructure that powers AI — a swath that includes everything from computer chips and memory to data centers and robots. “We need faster, more efficient systems. We need cheaper and higher-bandwidth memory across the memory hierarchy.

We need faster and more scalable interconnects between nodes and systems. We need power efficient edge devices for AI to explore and interact with the world. And of course we need all the cooling, materials, electrical, and real estate build out to support them,” the post reads.

AI is the “strongest tool ever developed for solving problems and bestowing abundance,” the firm writes, calling its advancement a “social and national imperative.”