Big bets on AI open a new frontier for chip startups, too

By Cade Metz SAN FRANCISCO: For years, tech industry financiers showed little interest in startup companies that made computer chips. How on earth could a startup compete with a goliath like Intel, which made the chips that ran more than 80 percent of the world's personal computers? Even in the areas where Intel didn't dominate, like smartphones and gaming devices, there were companies like Qualcomm and Nvidia that could squash an upstart. But then came the tech industry's latest big thing -- artificial intelligence. AI, it turned out, works better with new kinds of computer chips.