Ondine Capital Closes First Round of Fund III With Taiwanese Chip LPs

Ondine Capital has closed the first round of its third US dollar-denominated venture fund, with several leading Taiwanese semiconductor companies among its limited partners. The Taiwan-based firm disclosed the close in a statement on Tuesday but did not reveal the size of the round or the fund's target.

The firm counts institutional and strategic limited partners in the vehicle. Its backing by Taiwanese chip companies anchors a fund built around the artificial intelligence value chain.

Where will Fund III invest?

Fund III will deploy capital across five areas: foundation models, next-generation semiconductors, AI infrastructure, AI-native software, and physical AI. The strategy draws on Ondine's experience in semiconductors and deep technology. The firm focuses broadly on frontier technologies, including semiconductors, AI, enterprise software, and clean energy.

Ondine cited three early investments as evidence of the thesis. They span AI research, autonomous freight, and optical switching for data centres.

• Recursive Superintelligence. Founded by former Salesforce chief scientist Richard Socher, the company builds recursive self-improving AI systems. It recently raised $650 million at a $4 billion pre-money valuation. Google Ventures led the round. Nvidia and AMD participated.
• Bot Auto. Founded by former TuSimple co-founder and CTO Xiaodi Hou, the startup works on autonomous freight. It recently launched driverless freight operations on the Houston-to-Dallas corridor with Ryan Transportation.
• Salience Labs. The company develops silicon-photonics optical switching for AI data centres. It recently closed a $125 million round led by Bullhound Capital, with strategic backing from AMD Ventures and Intel Capital. It is working with Tower Semiconductor.

Who joins the firm?

Alongside the close, Ondine appointed Brian Yen as partner. Yen was previously principal and head of the Taipei office at Headline Asia. His investment focus covers consumer technology, agentic services, and physical AI. His past work includes respond.io, forest inc., Braid, and iMotorbike.

At Ondine, Yen will back early-stage founders building intelligent software and physical AI platforms.

Yen said the convergence of AI and semiconductors is creating opportunities across the technology stack. The firm expects significant value creation as the technologies mature, he added.

What does the close signal?

The fund gives Taiwanese semiconductor companies a direct financial stake in the AI startups that buy their silicon and infrastructure. Strategic LPs of this kind often secure early visibility into next-generation architectures, from silicon photonics to physical AI platforms.

The three early investments already link the fund to the industry's largest players. Nvidia, AMD, Intel Capital, and Google Ventures all appear in the cap tables of portfolio companies. Tower Semiconductor, the Israeli foundry, works directly with Salience Labs on optical switching for AI data centres.

Ondine did not set a timeline for a final close. With commitments secured and deployment underway across its five target areas, the firm will continue investing as the AI and semiconductor stack matures.