Cyberattacks are escalating. In the first quarter of 2024, organizations faced an average of approximately 1,300 attacks each week. The financial impact of these attacks is also increasing. According to Statista, losses from cybercrime could exceed $13 billion by 2028.
While software provides one layer of defense, hardware offers another. Axiado, a startup combining both approaches, has built its business around developing “security” chips and applications to enhance them.
Established in 2017, Axiado creates chips to secure devices ranging from data centers to 5G base stations. “Our solution empowers companies to secure their digital infrastructure from end to end,” CEO Gopi Sirineni told TechCrunch.
Sirineni explains that the boot process — the sequence machines follow during startup — can be vulnerable to attacks when it isn’t properly verified for tampering. Although more secure boot technologies have emerged in recent years, they’re not yet widely implemented, he notes.
Axiado’s chip addresses this by authenticating boot-level updates before execution and continuously verifying the integrity of the boot sequence. According to Sirineni, this prevents boot-level attacks on systems equipped with the chip.
Beyond boot security, the chip also safeguards software, applications, and workloads during runtime. In this aspect, it’s similar to chips like Microsoft’s Pluton, Google’s Titan, and Apple’s T2.
Axiado’s chip uses root-of-trust technology, providing cryptographic protection against hardware tampering. It also powers the company’s cybersecurity monitoring platform, which detects potentially malicious activity in data patterns. “Using AI engines, we analyze platform behavior and compare it to customer-provided blacklisted patterns,” Sirineni explained. “We complement existing ransomware solutions and act as the final line of defense.”
While custom silicon can enhance security, it’s not foolproof. For instance, in 2020, researchers discovered an “unfixable” flaw in Apple’s T2 chip, exposing devices to vulnerabilities it was meant to prevent. Similarly, supply chain issues have sometimes undermined secure boot mechanisms due to poor vendor practices.
Axiado asserts that its chips remain undefeated — for now. However, this may partly be due to their limited adoption so far.
To capitalize on the growing investment in AI data center infrastructure, Axiado recently introduced a system that optimizes data center cooling. Cooling is a significant expense for data centers and a major environmental challenge. The system, powered by Axiado’s chip, automatically adjusts cooling based on workloads, akin to solutions from startups like Phaidra.
Axiado is exploring various avenues to expand its reach, even as open security chip initiatives like Google’s OpenTitan present competition. The company has partnered with Jabil to develop cybersecurity solutions for servers and recently raised $60 million in a Series C funding round.
The round was led by Maverick Silicon, with contributions from Samsung Catalyst Fund, Atreides Management, and Crosslink Capital. This funding brings Axiado’s total raised to $140 million.
The Silicon Valley-based company plans to use the new capital to scale its go-to-market strategies and grow its team, which currently has around 100 employees across offices in San Jose, India, and Taiwan.
“We’ve been sampling our products for a year,” Sirineni stated. “The funding will help us transition to mass production and begin generating revenue in 2025.”
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