Startup once told ‘don’t back the kids in chips’ is hiring Nvidia talent

A chip startup once viewed by investors as too inexperienced to take on the semiconductor industry is now pulling engineers from Nvidia and other major chip companies, as it moves closer to becoming a serious player in AI hardware. Etched, founded by three 24-year-old Harvard dropouts, has signed quantitative-trading firm Jane Street as its first customer, booked more than $1 billion in orders and started shipping its AI chips. The hiring trend has also surprised some of its new employees. Former Nvidia systems engineer Anthony Gamerman said he kept hearing about colleagues leaving Nvidia for Etched. “One leaves, and then another one, you hear a couple weeks later, and you go, ‘Whoa, I can’t believe so-and-so is heading over to Etched,’” he said.Investors once warned ‘Don’t back the kids in chips’Etched was started by Robert Wachen, Gavin Uberti and Chris Zhu, who are all 24 years old.