Nvidia Makes First Investment In Taiwanese Startup MetAI: What Investors Should Know

Semiconductor company NVIDIA Corporation NVDA has invested in Taiwanese company MetAI, adding to its portfolio of stakes in artificial intelligence companies.

What Happened: Nvidia, which recently made waves at CES with new product announcements, has invested in the $4 million seed round of MetAI.

The investment marks the first by Nvidia in a Taiwanese startup. Nvidia CEO and co-founder Jensen Huang was born in Taiwan and remains a celebrity and is well-loved there.

Other investors in MetAI's seed round include Kenmec Mechanical Engineering, Solomon Technology, SparkLabs Taiwan, Addin Ventures and Upstream Ventures, as reported by TechCrunch.

MetAI has developed a model that generates "SimReady" digital twins.

"Digital twins have long been seen as a barrier to entry for physical AI due to the months or even years of effort required for development," MetAI CEO and co-founder Daniel Yu said.

MetAI's digital twins can be made within minutes using AI and 3D technology, according to the report. The company currently targets smart warehouses, automation and advanced semiconductor fabs with its digital twins.

Simulations used to train robots in autonomous systems could be central in generative physical AI, a new level of artificial intelligence.

MetAI won a competition run by Nvidia, which helped put the company on the map of the semiconductor leader.

The Taiwanese startup believes it has competitive advantages over other companies working on digital twin technologies, which include Siemens, Dassault, Duality AI, and more.

"Unlike competitors that prioritize operational efficiencies or IoT integrations, MetAI leverages generative models and AI-driven layouts to create digital twins," Yu noted.

Yu said this approach "ensures their direct usability for advanced automation systems like robotics, bridging the gap between simulation and reality."

MetAI gets revenue from product subscriptions, licensing fees and receives project-based income. The company expects to have at least $3 million in revenue from one of its projects in 2025. Outside of that, little is known about the company's financials.

The AI startup is a collaborator with Nvidia and the investment could strengthen the partnership.

"MetAI's integration with NVIDIA Omniverse represents a transformative step forward for industrial digital twins and physical AI in simulations," Nvidia corporate development manager Nico Caprez said. "Their ability to create scalable environments for AI training will potentially set a new standard for industries ranging from manufacturing to robotics."

What's Next: MetAI will use the funding round to help expand its R&D team to be quicker with its development and execution as it sees growing demand. The company also plans to launch a U.S. office in the second half of 2025 and relocate its headquarters.

"Given its size and the demand for simulation-driven solutions, we are expanding the U.S. market due to high labor costs and operational complexities," MetAI COO and co-founder Dave Liu said. "Our expansion strategy focuses on providing both point solutions and end-to-end solutions, including SaaS offerings and vertical AI agents designed for rapid implementation in real-world scenarios within these industries."

Liu called Taiwan the company's "testing ground."

Nvidia has put a focus on robotics as being a key growth area going forward, which includes the launch of the Omniverse platform. Nvidia's Mega, a fleet manager for warehouse robotics, also utilizes digital twins for its applications.

NVDA Price Action: Nvidia stock is up 2.13% to $134.53 on Wednesday versus a 52-week trading range of $54.74 to $153.13. Nvidia stock is up 134% over the last year.

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