EdgeQ, a US-based 5G wireless chip startup, has raised $75m in its Series B funding round from new and existing investors.

The funding came from both institutional and strategic investors, including Phaistos Investment Fund, Strategic Development Fund (SDF), EDBI, IRONGREY, ST Engineering, Yaletown, ClearSky, and other returning investors.

Concurrently, the company announced the appointment of Lattice Semiconductor CEO and president Jim Anderson to its board of directors.

EdgeQ will use the funds to increase the production of its 5G + AI “Base Station-on-a-Chip” and develop its next-generation chip.

EdgeQ CEO and co-founder Vinay Ravuri noted that semiconductors manufactured by EdgeQ are used to power base stations for 5G telecommunication towers and 5G access points. These can be deployed inside buildings such as factories to power wirelessly operated robotics and autonomous vehicles. The chips can also support 4G cellular signals.

“WiFi is considered best effort, meaning it is not guaranteed,” Ravuri was quoted by Reuters as saying.

“If it is a precise welding machine and it needs to move exactly this much, that has to happen within a microsecond or a millisecond, and you can’t do that in a best effort way,” he explained.

With the emergence of a new open standard chip architecture dubbed RISC-V, it has become possible for EdgeQ to develop its new 5G chip more efficiently, Ravuri said, adding that has been able to reduce the cost of the base station by around 50%.

Anderson said: “Particularly in the 5G wireless space, EdgeQ possesses the rare blend of ability and aptitude to execute on a compelling vision that will profoundly reshape how the industry conceives and consumes 5G.”