Meta Platforms is preparing to acquire Rivos, a Santa Clara–based chip startup specializing in RISC-V architecture, as part of its strategy to expand in-house semiconductor design and reduce its heavy dependence on Nvidia’s graphics processors. The deal, though not yet formally announced, is expected to give Meta direct access to Rivos’s engineering expertise and intellectual property, enabling faster development of its custom silicon for artificial intelligence applications.

Rivos has been one of the rising names in the semiconductor sector, known for designing full-stack systems around the RISC-V open-source standard. The company had reportedly been valued at around $2 billion during recent funding discussions and has attracted significant attention from investors seeking alternatives to proprietary chip platforms. By moving to acquire the startup, Meta signals a clear intent to position itself more competitively in the AI hardware race, where costs and supply chain constraints linked to Nvidia GPUs remain a pressing challenge.

Meta has already been investing in its own Meta Training and Inference Accelerator (MTIA) chips, which are tailored to power the company’s large-scale AI models and infrastructure. Executives have described these efforts as critical for long-term efficiency, given the growing demand for compute resources across social media, metaverse projects, and generative AI tools. With Rivos’s team and technology, Meta is expected to accelerate these efforts and reduce its reliance on outside suppliers.

The broader context of the acquisition reflects a trend among major technology players, including Google, Amazon, and Microsoft, all of whom are building custom silicon to reduce operational bottlenecks. For Meta, securing Rivos may represent not just a cost-saving measure, but also a strategic leap toward tighter control of its AI roadmap.

While financial details remain undisclosed, the planned acquisition underlines Meta’s ambition to become a stronger force in the global semiconductor ecosystem.