Andreessen Horowitz Raises $1.1B for AI’s Physical Infrastructure, From Chips to Robotics

Andreessen Horowitz has raised a $1.1 billion Machine Age Fund for the physical systems behind AI. Its first vehicle specifically focused on hardware infrastructure places chips, data centers, power equipment and robotics inside one investment mandate.

The fund is built around a practical constraint on AI capacity: compute requires more than processors. AI clusters need networking to connect processors, storage to move large datasets, and cooling, power infrastructure and data-center designs that can support dense computing environments. General Partners David George and Erik Torenberg characterize that work as a physical rebuilding of computing infrastructure for AI.

From the data center to devices

The mandate extends from central infrastructure to hardware closer to where AI is used. It covers chips, memory, storage, networking, data centers and power systems, alongside edge AI hardware, smart-home appliances and robots. That breadth puts facility equipment and physical AI products under the same fund.

Three investment layers

• Compute and data movement: chips, memory, storage and networking equipment.
• Facility systems: data centers and power infrastructure.
• Physical AI products: edge hardware, smart-home appliances and robots.

An investment thesis already taking shape

The firm’s named infrastructure portfolio companies include Heron Power, data-center builder Volta Infrastructure Holdings and chipmaker Unconventional. Heron makes data-center transformers, which reduce electricity to a voltage suitable for distribution. The company says its systems use power-management chips in a solid-state design rather than the metal coil used in standard transformers.

Capital is only one part of the buildout

Andreessen Horowitz plans to pair its capital with go-to-market, recruiting and marketing support for hardware portfolio companies. Its partners have argued that hardware suppliers are accustomed to 20% to 30% annual growth, while saying triple-digit growth is needed to catch up with demand. That assessment is the firm’s own market view, but it explains why the mandate reaches beyond chip design into the suppliers around it.

The move comes as venture firms raise more AI-focused capital. Kleiner Perkins raised $3.5 billion across two funds in March, including one for early-stage AI startups. Andreessen Horowitz’s distinction is its dedicated focus on the equipment and facilities that support AI systems.