Mastiska Announces $10M Seed Funding to Develop Sovereign AI Silicon in the UAE

Abu Dhabi–based semiconductor startup Mastiska has raised $10 million in seed financing from GCC sovereign wealth backers to accelerate development of its data-center-grade AI inference accelerators. Founded in 2024 by Suresh Sugumar, the company is establishing a fabless AI chip operation rooted in open-source technologies and focused on delivering sovereign silicon for regions seeking reduced dependency on U.S. and Chinese suppliers.

Mastiska plans to build its model-creation team in the UAE and its VLSI design center in India, enabling government and enterprise customers to fully audit chip designs for cybersecurity assurance. The company’s first commercial product will be custom FPGA accelerators featuring proprietary AI architectures engineered for performance and energy efficiency. Target markets span the GCC, Southeast Asia, BRICS, and the Global South as governments move to strengthen control over their AI infrastructure.

Featured image: Credit: Mastiska