Reimagining Data Center Infrastructure for the AI Era: Intel Capital Leads Mueon’s Seed Round
Over the past few years, we’ve seen remarkable innovation across the semiconductor landscape aimed at solving the compute, memory, and power challenges posed by AI workloads. At Intel Capital, we’ve backed startups pushing the boundaries of interconnect latency, memory density, and materials science. But the exponential growth in AI adoption is now straining data center infrastructure in ways that demand a fundamental rethink, not just chips, but the entire system architecture.
As AI workloads scale, data centers increasingly require platforms that handle both training and inference with greater efficiency. The bottlenecks are no longer isolated to compute or memory. Bandwidth limitations, power delivery inefficiencies, and thermal constraints are tightly coupled, and solving them requires a holistic approach.
That’s why we’re excited to announce our lead investment in Mueon’s $15.5M seed round. Mueon is pioneering a modular architecture that integrates compute, memory, power delivery, and thermal management into compact, stackable units called Cubelets™. This system-level innovation enables up to 10x improvements in density, energy efficiency, and deployment speed, while remaining compatible with existing AI and cloud software stacks.
Cubelets™ are more than a chip; they’re a platform, offering a path to more sustainable and cost-effective data center operations. They reduce the need for massive cooling infrastructure and enable linear scalability as demand grows.
I’ve known Wilfred Gomes, Mueon’s co-founder and CEO, for over five years. As an Intel Fellow, Wilfred helped shape the future of microprocessor design through breakthroughs in 3D integration, Foveros packaging, and combining logic and memory for better performance and efficiency. His vision for Mueon reflects that same system-level thinking. When he approached us with the idea, it didn’t take long to decide to invest. Wilfred also teamed up with Jack Hwang, a former Intel Principal Engineer with over 30 years of experience in semiconductor process technology, including advanced materials, etching techniques, and scaling innovations for advanced logic nodes and next-generation chips. They have recruited a strong team of industry experts in Memory, Thermals and Power delivery to enable this vision.
Beyond the technology, Mueon has built strong partnerships across the ecosystem, from manufacturing to academia, ensuring access to the resources and feedback needed to bring Cubelets™ to market. Their approach is unique in targeting the system-level pain points of AI infrastructure, rather than focusing solely on chips or networking.
The market opportunity is massive. The global AI data center market was valued at $168B in 2024 and is projected to grow to over $400B by 2027. Hyperscalers and AI accelerator vendors, Mueon’s target customers, have significant infrastructure budgets and are actively seeking solutions that offer better performance per watt and faster deployment.
At Intel Capital, we invest in bold ideas that reshape industries. Mueon’s vision for a “data center in a box” is exactly that: a bold reimagining of how AI infrastructure can be built, scaled, and sustained.
We’re proud to support Mueon on this journey and excited to see how Cubelets™ will redefine the future of AI computing.
