Modular is a remarkable Australian technology success story. An AI infrastructure startup co-founded in 2022 by Tim Davis from Melbourne and Chris Lattner.
It is being acquired by Qualcomm for US$3.9 billion (A$5.6 billion), after raising US$250 million in 2025 at a valuation of US$1.6 billion to rapidly scale.
investors
- U.S. Innovative Technology Fund
- DFJ Growth
- GV – Google’s venture capital arm
- General Catalyst –
- Greylock – Early investor in companies such as Facebook, Airbnb and Workday.
What it does
Built software that enables AI applications to run efficiently across different chips without developers having to rewrite their code.
Customers include major technology companies such as Amazon, Oracle, NVIDIA and AMD.
Who is Tim Davis?
Tim Davis’s journey is equally interesting. After studying law and commerce at Monash University, he moved to Silicon Valley in 2012, worked at Google, and then left to build Modular. His strategy was to capitalise on what he described as the biggest technology supercycle in history—the commercialisation of AI.
So what are the lessons?
Infrastructure wins can be enormous. Rather than competing directly with AI models, Modular built the tools that everyone else needs.
Speed matters. The company reached a multibillion-dollar exit in just four years because it addressed a critical bottleneck in AI deployment.
Global ambition from day one. Davis relocated to Silicon Valley to access talent, customers and capital while maintaining strong Australian roots.
Solve a universal problem. Making AI run efficiently across any hardware has applications across virtually every industry.
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Australia has produced several global tech success stories in recent years—including Canva, AirWallex and now Modular.
Australian founders can build companies of global significance when they target large international markets.
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