a16z: The semiconductor market may double by 2030, with AI investments continuing to dominate venture capital

ME News Report, April 11 (UTC+8), according to a chart analysis recently released by a16z, the semiconductor market size may double by 2030.
The article also analyzes venture capital data from the first quarter of 2026, with approximately 6,000 startups worldwide receiving $300 billion in investments, with both quarter-over-quarter and year-over-year increases exceeding 150%.
Among them, OpenAI, Anthropic, xAI, and Waymo collectively raised $188 billion, accounting for about 65% of the total.
Even excluding these large deals, the funding for the quarter still reached approximately $112 billion.
About 80% of the funds flowed into AI companies, higher than 55% a year earlier.
Early-stage funding increased by 41% year-over-year, seed round funding grew by 31%, but the number of seed deals decreased by 30% year-over-year.
Companies that received billion-dollar-level funding in this cycle also include fields such as chips (Cerebras, Rapidus), robotics (Skild AI), autonomous driving systems (Wayve), and defense platforms (Shield AI), reflecting the current AI cycle’s inclusion of physical layer applications.
The article concludes with a reference to Goldman Sachs’ research, pointing out that labor productivity in the U.S. construction industry has been nearly stagnant since 1950, and analyzing possible reasons, including stagnation in technology adoption and increased land use regulations.
(Source: InFoQ)