CuspAI, an AI startup backed by Jeff Bezos’ venture fund Bezos Expeditions, raised $450 million, valuing the company at $2.6 billion, according to a recent fundraising announcement. The company, which initially focused on carbon capture and water purification, now uses AI to discover new materials for future computer chips. Chipmakers Nvidia and Advanced Micro Devices, along with Facebook parent Meta Platforms, are developmental partners. The startup’s work addresses supply chain shortages for critical metals used in AI computing. The International Energy Agency predicts that data centers’ demand for gallium in 2030 could be 10% greater than today’s supply, while China controls 99% of the planet’s refined gallium supply. Other key elements, including iridium and tantalum, are also increasingly difficult and costly to obtain. CuspAI’s platform cannot create or procure these metals but can virtually identify alternatives or develop ways to synthesize materials that have been impossible to synthesize, reducing work that would normally take years and millions of dollars to months at a fraction of the cost.