GreatAsic, a Malaysian company that designs custom chips for AI workloads, announced a $6.9m pre-Series A round on 10 June 2026. Vertex Ventures Southeast Asia & India led the round, with Ehsan Kapital and Gobi Partners participating, according to Vertex and TechNode.
The announcement framed the raise around Malaysia moving from chip assembly to chip design. No valuation was disclosed and neither source gave earlier funding. Both sources call the round pre-Series A, an early-stage round before a Series A, which this site files under Seed.
Vertex's page and TechNode's report both carry the 10 June 2026 date, and both name Vertex Ventures Southeast Asia & India as the lead investor.
What GreatAsic does
GreatAsic Technology is a fabless company, meaning it designs chips and has them made by outside factories. It is headquartered in Penang and is growing a research and development operation in Selangor. It designs custom ASICs and AI system-on-chip platforms for data centres, edge AI and automotive customers, and offers silicon intellectual property platforms and end-to-end silicon realisation.
Vertex's page says the team has a record of full-mask tape-outs and high-volume production. TechNode reported that leadership has experience at StarFive, Intel, Marvell and Broadcom.
TechNode also said GreatAsic is among the first Malaysian design firms with access to Arm Holdings' semiconductor IP. It holds Arm Flexible Access and Arm Neoverse Compute Subsystems tokens, and its Arm Flexible Access agreement has been formalised with the Malaysian Investment Development Authority.
The company's first products target data centre, edge AI and automotive markets, the same three segments Vertex's page names as its focus. The page did not list product names or specifications.
The founders
Vertex's page lists Ong Chin Hu, the chief executive, and Michael Liew Woon Chin as founders. Ong said Malaysia has world-class engineering talent and a chance to design, not just build, the chips that power the AI era, according to TechNode.
The sources opened did not give a founding year or a headcount.
What the money is for
GreatAsic said the funds will pay for engineering hires, wider operations and faster delivery of its planned silicon projects.
Chan Yip Pang, executive director of investment at Vertex Ventures Southeast Asia and India, said GreatAsic's leadership is among the best positioned in Malaysia to design and deliver an AI SoC. TechNode paraphrased Yong Kai Ping, chief executive of the Selangor Information Technology and Digital Economy Corporation, as saying the fundraise reflects the innovation the Malaysia Semiconductor IC Design Park was built to cultivate.
Who invested
Vertex Ventures Southeast Asia & India is the lead. Ehsan Kapital and Gobi Partners also took part, and the sources did not give each investor's share of the $6.9m.
Neither source reported revenue or the number of customers, and a fabless company does not own factories, so the sources point to hiring and design work as the main uses of the money.
Company website: greatasic.com