AI requires increasingly powerful chips. However, designing these chips itself is a time-consuming and complex process. What if AI starts doing some of that work as well?
That’s the idea behind Ricursive Intelligence. The startup is developing AI that can design chips, learn from the process, and improve the next design. This could accelerate the development of increasingly powerful AI-powered hardware.
Currently, designing a chip can take two to three years. Recursive hopes to shorten that cycle to just a few weeks.
At TechCrunch Disrupt 2026, Ricursive Intelligence co-founders Anna Goldie and Azalia Mirhoseini will be on the Disrupt stage for “When AI starts designing its own hardware.” They will discuss closing the loop between AI and chip development, building self-improving systems, and tackling one of the biggest bottlenecks in the race for more powerful intelligence.
Want to hear from researchers working to change the way AI hardware is built? Today is the last day to save up to $200 with a Disrupt pass. Get a second pass for 50% off select ticket types when you secure your ticket by 11:59 PM PT.
What happens when AI designs a chip that powers it?
Anna Goldie and Azalia Mirhoseini have already shown that AI can play an important role in chip design. Before founding Ricursive Intelligence, the two co-led AlphaChip at Google. This is an AI system that can generate chip layouts in hours, rather than the much longer process required by human designers. Their research helped design multiple generations of Google’s Tensor Processing Units.
Ricursive Intelligence takes that concept further, building AI tools that automate and accelerate chip design. The system is intended to learn across different chips, so experience designing one chip will improve how you approach the next.
This creates a potentially powerful loop. AI helps design better hardware, better hardware supports more powerful AI, and those systems help develop what comes next.
What does that feedback loop mean for the next generation of AI? Secure your Disrupt pass with up to $200 in savings and hear directly from the founders who are building it.
From AlphaChip to $4 billion startup
Goldie and Mirhoseini are also co-founders of Google’s ML for Systems team. Both were early employees at Anthropic and senior research fellows at Google DeepMind.
Goldie, founder and CEO of Ricursive, holds a PhD in computer science from Stanford University and was named one of MIT Technology Review’s 35 Innovators Under 35. Founder and CTO Mirhoseini is an assistant professor of computer science at Stanford University and founder of the Scaling Intelligence Lab.
They launched Ricursive in late 2025, and investors moved quickly. Within four months, the company had raised $335 million, including a $300 million Series A, at a $4 billion valuation. NVIDIA is also an investor.
Ricursive wants to enable AI to further automate complex chip design processes, from component placement to design validation, and learn throughout the design. Goldie and Mirhoseini believe that accelerating chip design can open the door to new chip architectures and, ultimately, more capable and efficient AI.
Let’s take a look at where AI and hardware development are headed next. Subscribe to Disrupt to hear Goldie and Mirhoseini discuss the technology, bottlenecks, and self-improvement systems behind Ricursive’s approach.
How fast can the AI and hardware loop move?
Although AI models have advanced rapidly, their underlying hardware operates on different development cycles. Ricursive is betting that AI can help close that gap.
At Disrupt, Goldie and Mirhosseini bring the perspectives of researchers who helped prove that AI can design real-world chips, and are now building a company to take that idea further. This is an opportunity for founders, investors, and technology leaders to understand why the speed of chip development will play a huge role in what’s next for AI.
Their session is one of more than 200 sessions across six industry stages, roundtables and breakout sessions at Disrupt, which will be held at Moscone West in San Francisco from October 13th to 15th. More than 10,000 founders, investors, executives, and technology leaders are expected to attend, with more than 250 speakers and more than 300 startups exhibiting. Matchmaking, dealmaking, and networking at Disrupt creates opportunities to connect with founders, investors, and builders who shape what’s next.
Today is the last day to save up to $200 on your Disrupt pass. Secure your ticket by midnight PT and get a second pass for 50% off your selected ticket type. Listen to Goldie and Mirhoseini on Disrupt Stage to learn what happens when AI starts helping design the hardware that powers it.
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