Today, we’re welcoming new companies to The Compute 100!
For those that are new, The Compute 100 was launched this Summer as a resource of the top public and private companies that are shaping how tokens are delivered, from materials and manufacturing, to inference and neoclouds. From public companies reinventing their businesses in the face of AI, to founders brave enough to take on trillion dollar giants, this list celebrates the teams building this industry.
This industry moves fast. And our goal is that the list evolves as the industry does. Since the launch of the list, there’s been some exciting movement — M&As, IPOs, and fast-growing startups. Today’s edition walks through the latest changes made to The Compute 100.
If you haven’t already, check out our podcast where we’ve been having in-depth conversations with leaders across this ecosystem. Many more great episodes to come. We’re all ears for feedback on the podcast, newsletter, and broader compute initiatives at Primary. Thanks for being along for the ride!
— Brian & Gaby
Let’s dive in!
One IPO and three acquisitions reshaped The Compute 100 since we launched this Summer. SpaceX moved to the public list after its $75B June offering, while Qualcomm, SpaceX and Analog Devices each absorbed a private member: Modular, Mesh Optical and Empower Semi. The vacated seats go to rapidly growing companies across the stack, including AI data infrastructure (Vast), AI networking (DriveNets), AI accelerators (Positron) and chip metrology (Nearfield Instruments).
| Leaving the list |
| NXP | REMOVED |
NXP’s revenue is concentrated in automotive, industrial and mobile chips, and its AI exposure sits mostly at the edge, extended by the Kinara acquisition it closed in October 2025. On July 23 it agreed to sell its Chandler, Arizona fab campus to Nokia, which will convert the site to indium phosphide optical chips for AI data centers. We'll be tracking NXP's AI trajectory closely moving forward.
| Joining the list |
| SpaceX | PROMOTED |
SpaceX priced its IPO at $135 per share on June 11 and began trading on Nasdaq as SPCX on June 12, raising $75B in the largest offering on record and closing its first day near a $2.1T market value. Elon Musk also closed the acquisition of Mesh Optical on July 6, adding optical transceivers for AI data centers to a company built on launch and satellite networking.
| Leaving the list |
| SpaceX | PROMOTED |
SpaceX priced its IPO on June 11 and began trading on Nasdaq on June 12 as SPCX, moving it from the private list to the public list.
| Modular | ACQUIRED |
Qualcomm completed its all-stock acquisition of Modular on July 29, a deal announced June 24 and valued at about $3.9B. Modular built the Mojo language and MAX inference platform that let one codebase target multiple accelerators, and Chris Lattner now leads AI software at Qualcomm. Mojo, MAX and Modular Cloud continue as products, but Modular is no longer independent.
| Mesh Optical | ACQUIRED |
Elon Musk closed its acquisition of Mesh Optical on July 6 for about 3.8M Class A shares plus limited cash options, after the FTC granted early termination of its review on June 25. Founded by SpaceX alumni, Mesh makes 1.6 terabit per second optical transceivers for AI data centers and raised $50M in February. The company will likely operate inside of SpaceXAI's growing data center business.
| Empower Semi | ACQUIRED |
Analog Devices completed its all-cash acquisition of Empower Semiconductor on July 7, paying about $1.5B. Empower made integrated voltage regulators and silicon capacitors that sit beside AI processors and shorten the last stretch of power delivery. Inside ADI the technology becomes one product line of an established analog supplier, and Empower no longer operates as an independent company.
| Joining the list |
| Vast | ADDED |
Vast builds an AI data platform that combines storage, database and compute for large-scale AI workloads. On April 22 it closed a $1B Series F at a $30B valuation, more than triple its 2023 mark, led by Drive Capital and Access Industries with Nvidia, Fidelity and NEA participating. CoreWeave signed a $1.17B agreement to use Vast as its primary data foundation, and the company cites more than $500M in committed annual recurring revenue.
| Nearfield Instruments | ADDED |
Nearfield Instruments, based in Rotterdam, makes metrology tools that measure chip structures non-destructively with atomic force microscopy, including high-aspect-ratio features in advanced AI chips. On June 22 it raised a $380M Series D at a $1.6B valuation, led by Fidelity with Temasek, QIA and M&G participating. The round funds production capacity and customer support for chipmakers who need tighter inspection at each new node.
| DriveNets | ADDED |
DriveNets sells disaggregated, Ethernet-based networking and AI fabric software that connects GPU clusters. In June it raised a $410M Series D led by Bessemer and Atreides, with AMD joining as an investor, at a reported valuation of $8.5B. The company says it has secured more than $1B in business and has been cash-flow positive since 2025. AMD’s participation ties its fabric to AMD GPUs and NICs.
| Positron | ADDED |
Positron AI builds memory-first inference accelerators. Its Atlas system is moving into production, and the next chip, Asimov, targets tapeout by the end of 2026. On September 10 it announced an $875M Series C at a $5B valuation, up from $1.06B in February, co-led by NEA, Atreides and Valor. The round funds Asimov and a 2 MW engineering data center.
Thanks for reading this update! Our goal is for future updates to happen as M&A and IPOs occur, with the list updating regularly to reflect the changing shape of the market. More to come!