Atomic Machines emerges from stealth with $250M and an AI-guided micro-fabrication factory

Atomic Machines, a California startup led by former Uber self-driving chief Jeff Holden, has emerged from six years of stealth with $250 million in funding and an AI-guided factory it says can turn digital designs into tiny working machines.

The company’s system, called Matter Compiler, differs from a 3D printer, according to Holden: a 3D printer only changes an object’s shape, while the Matter Compiler builds a whole new device when the code changes, without needing retooling. Each production step is verified before a part moves forward, and the process feeds the AI with data on which materials actually work.

Atomic Machines focuses on devices with moving parts too small to see without a microscope, such as tiny pumps, motors, and gears that chip factories cannot produce. Its first product, PrimeSwitch, is a fingertip-sized power switch designed for AI server farms, which the company says is faster than traditional breakers and more efficient than silicon.

For now, the company is producing only its own products with humans in the loop, but its broader vision is ‘prompt-to-product’ manufacturing, where virtually anyone with a concept could eventually turn it into a physical device.