David Lam

I’m lucky to work alongside colleagues like Richard Fruehauf, who constantly push my thinking. His latest piece unpacks why U.S. robotics and drone manufacturing faces uphill economics, and how public policy can help turn the tide. One key takeaway: 232 tariffs on robotics imports could help reset the economics that are holding back U.S. investment and production. It’s a sharp perspective on how policy can shape the future of advanced tech here at home. Well worth a read: https://lnkd.in/edMPTQPQ Richard Fruehauf, Robert J. Szczerba, Michael Lutzky, Edward Ovando, Karl Sanchack, Herman Herman, Jeff Legault, Phil English, Richard Fruehauf, Ryan Aument, Michael Guido, Sheila Fitzgerald Sterrett, David McCormick

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As AI workloads eat up global computing supply, DRAM prices are surging like never before—creating major challenges for teams trying to plan out their data center spend. One of my portfolio companies, Mext, is addressing the largest cost component in the datacenter: server memory (DRAM). From being on the board of Redis for the last twelve years, I’ve learned a lot about the various aspects of this problem and approaches to solving them. Mext found a breakthrough, using new AI techniques, for dramatically reducing the amount of server-DRAM required to run applications, all while maintaining performance. It intelligently manages the server’s memory, keeping hot pages (i.e., those in use by applications) in fast DRAM and offloading cold pages (i.e., those less used) to a much less expensive memory tier (e.g., NVMe Flash). Key to the approach is ensuring cold memory pages that are about to be accessed by an application are back in DRAM before the application needs them or notices that they were gone. This is done without modifications to the application or the OS – so it can run in the cloud or on-premise. Mext thus allows applications to either run using less DRAM or keep their DRAM footprint but do more with it. They're hosting a webinar along with Fred Weber (former CTO of AMD) on Jan 22nd at 10am pacific time. You can register here: https://lnkd.in/gXe9GCeE

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Anissa G., Valida Pau (& The Information) get all the scoops! 💥 "The fundraising and the new valuation come after Nvidia agreed to strike a $20 billion non-exclusive technology licensing deal with Cerebras competitor Groq in late December, a sign that demand is strong for specialized chips that run AI applications fast and cheaply."

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""This $100M funding propels TensorWave's mission to democratize access to cutting-edge AI compute," said Darrick Horton, CEO of TensorWave. "Our 8,192 Instinct MI325X GPU cluster marks just the beginning as we establish ourselves as the emerging AMD-powered leader in the rapidly expanding AI infrastructure market.” The new capital will fuel TensorWave’s operational growth, team expansion, and the accelerated deployment of its Instinct MI325X-powered training cluster. This growth comes at a pivotal moment, as demand for AI computing resources continues to outstrip supply and organizations seek alternatives to limited infrastructure options."

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Honored and excited to partner with Drew Baglino and the incredible team at Heron Power as they re-imagine the electric grid for the modern world. Power in America is not zero sum. We deserve access to cheap and abundant electricity and we should win the AI race. And we must build the capacity to manufacture critical technology here at home. When faced with existential challenges, we deploy technology against them. And we win.

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Frontier tech finds its ground zero in the Midcontinent The Midcontinent is now emerging as a pivotal region for frontier tech and investment. SVB’s recent insights spotlight this growth, particularly in industries like energy, infrastructure, and deep tech—momentum that the Midcontinent region is already capitalizing on. At Cortado Ventures, we’re doubling down on early-stage frontier tech that reimagines legacy industries. Our 2025 Midcon VC Summit in Tulsa underscored this momentum in an outstanding presentation by Josh Pherigo, who builds on that theme with this article. https://lnkd.in/gpFVeDVw

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AI isn't just powering software. BrightAI just raised $51 million to automate inspection and other hardware-based AI capabilities. As Alexa von Tobel, co-founder of Inspired Capital put it: “So many people are so focused on the future of digital AI, but we’re excited about this new layer of AI: the physical world AI.” We are in the early innings of a series of AI-fueled innovations! https://lnkd.in/enhmafvH

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My DCVC partner Milo Werner at the announcement of MIT's New Manufacturing Initiative: the highly automated factories of the future will re-industrialize the United States, tightly couple R&D and manufacturing to accelerate innovation, and decarbonize industry.

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#AmTech Weekly Roundup: -> Clarium raised $27 million in Series A funding from Northzone, General Catalyst, AlleyCorp, and Kaiser Permanente Ventures. Clarium’s hospital supply chain management software works with crowdsourced data from providers, suppliers, and vendors to lower costs and prevent disruptions.   Steve Liou   -> Reflect Orbital raised $20 million in Series A funding from Lux Capital, Sequoia Capital, and Starship Ventures. Reflect Orbital builds satellites that reflect sunlight down to Earth for large-scale solar generation and night-time lighting for things like overnight construction projects, disaster relief, and public events.   Ben Nowack, Tristan Semmelhack    -> Adyton PBC raised $11 million in funding from Venrock, Khosla Ventures, Liquid 2 Ventures, Alumni Ventures, and Initialized Capital. Adyton’s defense-focused operational software gives warfighters access to information about resources, supplies, and support platforms.   JJ Wilson, James Boyd #VentureCapital #VC #USA #Startups

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Quantinuum’s planned IPO is the moment quantum finally hits the public markets in grown‑up form. This isn’t another early‑stage SPAC story; it’s a full‑stack platform spun out of Honeywell, with trapped‑ion hardware that regularly tops industry benchmarks and a real software and applications business on top. By combining industrial‑grade engineering with production‑grade tooling in chemistry, security, and optimization, Quantinuum gives investors exposure not just to “qubits,” but to an integrated quantum stack that already serves enterprise workloads. For technical and business leaders, as well as investors, the key question now is how public markets will price a quantum company that actually looks like an infrastructure and software provider rather than a speculative science project. Whatever the final valuation, this IPO will likely become the benchmark for what “mature” looks like in quantum—deep IP, differentiated hardware, and diversified revenue experiments before ringing the bell. Headline: Honeywell’s Quantinuum Quantum-Computing Unit Plans IPO – https://lnkd.in/euZjkGtG

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