Andreessen Horowitz raises $1.1B for AI infrastructure fund targeting chips, data centers, and robotics

Andreessen Horowitz just closed a $1.1 billion fund dedicated entirely to the hardware that makes artificial intelligence actually work. The firm is calling it the “Machine Age” fund, and the name tells you everything about where a16z thinks the real constraint on AI progress lives: not in the code, but in the physical world. The fund, which closed on August 28, targets the full AI hardware stack. That means chips, memory, data centers, networking equipment, and robotics, essentially every tangible thing that sits between a large language model and the electricity coming out of the wall. Why hardware, why now The calculus has shifted dramatically as AI workloads have grown to a scale that existing infrastructure simply cannot handle. Rack power demand in data centers is projected to surge from 5-10 kW to somewhere between 100-250 kW, with some estimates reaching up to 1 MW per rack. The team and the track record The fund is being led by partners with deep roots in hardware and data center management, including Raghu Raghuram, Martin Casado, and David Ulevitch. Raghuram’s name will be familiar to anyone who followed VMware, where he served as CEO. Casado co-founded Nicira, the netwo...