NeoLogic aims to build energy-efficient CPUs for AI data centers
When Israel-based NeoLogic began work on a radically different CPU design for AI servers, industry veterans told its founders, Avi Messica and Ziv Leshem, that it couldn’t be done.
“Most of the people that we have met say it’s impossible,” Messica told TechCrunch. “Some of them told us, at the time, that the innovation is impossible because you cannot innovate in logic synthesis. You can’t innovate in circuit design. It’s too mature.”
Rather than walking away, the duo leaned in. Founded in 2021, NeoLogic is a fabless semiconductor startup building server CPUs that process data using more simplified logic — fewer transistors and fewer logic gates — to achieve faster performance at lower power consumption.
Messica, now CEO, and Leshem, CTO, bring a combined 50 years of semiconductor experience. Leshem spent decades designing chips at Intel and Synopsys, while Messica specialized in circuit design and manufacturing. Their shared conviction was born from a sobering observation: Moore’s Law — the long-standing prediction that transistor counts double every two years — had effectively stalled.
“About a decade ago, companies stopped trying to scale transistors down in size,” Messica said. “They had gotten so small that there wasn’t much more progress to be made there.”
NeoLogic’s answer was not to make transistors smaller, but to use them more intelligently. The company is collaborating with two undisclosed hyperscaler partners on its CPU designs. It expects to produce a single-core test chip by the end of this year, with plans to bring full server CPUs to market by 2027.
The ambition comes at a critical moment. AI-driven data center demand is skyrocketing, pushing power consumption toward unprecedented levels. Industry forecasts suggest that global data center energy usage will double within four years, straining infrastructure and increasing costs.
Messica argues that NeoLogic’s architecture could cut data center energy needs by roughly 30%. “It affects everything,” he said. “Construction costs, capital investment, water usage. It has an impact on society — and that was our vision roughly five years ago.”
Investors are taking notice. NeoLogic recently closed a $10 million Series A round led by KOMPAS VC, with participation from M Ventures, Maniv Mobility, and lool Ventures. The funds will be used to expand engineering talent and push CPU development forward.
If NeoLogic delivers on its promises, it could not only help hyperscalers manage soaring AI workloads but also reshape assumptions about what’s possible in chip design — proving that even in a “mature” field, there’s room for bold rethinking.
