When a Middle Eastern AI startup decided to build its own silicon — from the ground up — many raised eyebrows. But for Mastiska, that gamble is now paying off. The company has just secured a $10 million seed round, positioning itself at the vanguard of sovereign-silicon infrastructure for generative AI.
From software ambitions to hardware reality
Mastiska began as a team focused on delivering high-performance AI systems. As the costs and dependencies on foreign cloud & GPU infrastructure grew, they made a bold pivot: design, develop and deploy their own silicon optimized for both training and inference. The move aims to give AI developers in the region — and world — access to powerful compute without being tethered to global cloud providers.
With the latest funding, Mastiska will accelerate production, build out its hardware stack, and scale operations. For a region eager to build AI capacity independent of major global players, the timing could not be better.
Why this matters for AI sovereignty
Access to affordable, high-efficiency AI compute has become a global bottleneck. By developing “own silicon,” Mastiska is not just injecting competition into the GPU-dominated AI market — it’s enabling sovereignty over compute infrastructure. That could be particularly powerful for startups, researchers, and governments in the MENA region who want control, privacy, and cost-efficiency.
What’s next — and what to watch out for
Mastiska now faces execution risks. Designing silicon is hard, capital-intensive, and fraught with supply-chain and manufacturing challenges. Their success will depend on delivering on performance promises and scaling production — not just for compute but reliability, efficiency, and support.
If they pull it off, Mastiska could become a foundational pillar for a regional AI ecosystem — helping the Middle East and beyond build AI tools on locally owned infrastructure.
Editor’s Note — The Startups MENA Team
At Startups MENA, we focus on the narratives that define how the Middle East builds its next-generation workforce and innovation economy. A startup like Mastiska making fundamental bets on hardware signals a shift — from just software innovation, to building critical infrastructure. If the region embraces such efforts, the future of AI here may not just be about apps or services — but about who owns the technology bedrock.
– By The Startups MENA Editorial Desk
