Fungible Inc.

Fungible Inc. was a United States technology company headquartered in Santa Clara, California. Founded in 2015, it focused on improving the performance, reliability, and economics of data centers through specialized hardware and software. Its central product concept was the data processing unit, or DPU: a programmable processor designed to handle infrastructure-oriented workloads such as networking, storage, security, and data movement, reducing the burden placed on general-purpose central processing units and graphics processors. The company was founded by Pradeep Sindhu, who had co-founded Juniper Networks and served as its chief scientist, and Bertrand Serlet, a former senior vice president of software engineering at Apple. Their backgrounds combined expertise in networking, systems architecture, and large-scale software development. Fungible positioned its technology around the changing architecture of modern data centers, where compute, storage, and networking resources increasingly need to be pooled and managed as software-defined infrastructure rather than being permanently tied to individual physical servers. Fungible attracted substantial venture financing as interest grew in DPUs and infrastructure accelerators. It raised a $32 million Series A round in February 2017, led by Mayfield Fund, Walden Riverwood Ventures, and Battery Ventures. In June 2019, it announced a $200 million Series C round led by SoftBank Vision Fund, with participation from Norwest Venture Partners and existing investors. The company reported approximately 200 employees at that point. In September 2019, it appointed Dr. Jai Menon, formerly a chief technology officer at Dell and IBM, as chief scientist. In July 2021, Eric Hayes became chief executive officer, replacing Sindhu in that role. Fungible's technology was intended to support composable disaggregated infrastructure. In this model, compute and storage resources are separated from the traditional server chassis and connected through a high-speed data-center fabric. Resources can then be pooled and assigned dynamically according to workload requirements. The DPU functions as an intelligent traffic and infrastructure controller, moving data between networked storage and compute resources while providing an additional programmable layer for data-center operations. In January 2023, Microsoft announced that it would acquire Fungible to strengthen its data-center infrastructure capabilities and its work on data processing units. The transaction marked the end of Fungible as an independent company and transferred its technology and personnel into Microsoft's infrastructure organization. The acquisition also underscored the strategic importance of specialized data-center processors as cloud providers sought better efficiency, security, and control over increasingly distributed computing environments. Following the acquisition announcement, a Fungible stockholder and former employee, Naveen Gupta, filed a lawsuit seeking an investigation into alleged corporate wrongdoing and possible breaches of fiduciary duties. The available reference material does not establish the final outcome of that litigation.

Fungible was established in 2015 by Pradeep Sindhu and Bertrand Serlet. Sindhu was a co-founder and chief scientist of Juniper Networks, while Serlet had been Apple's senior vice president of software engineering. The founders created the company around the idea that conventional server architectures were increasingly inefficient for large-scale, data-intensive workloads. Rather than treating networking and storage as passive functions attached to compute servers, Fungible sought to make them programmable and independently manageable through dedicated processing hardware. The company's main technical focus was the data processing unit, or DPU. A DPU is a programmable processor intended to manage data-center infrastructure tasks, including the movement of traffic between networks, storage systems, CPUs, and GPUs. By offloading these functions from general-purpose processors, DPUs can provide a more specialized control layer for networking, storage, security, and virtualization-related operations. Fungible also presented DPUs as an enabling technology for high-speed fabrics linking compute and storage servers. Fungible raised $32 million in Series A financing in February 2017. The round was led by Mayfield Fund, Walden Riverwood Ventures, and Battery Ventures. The financing supported the company's development as the DPU category began attracting attention from investors and data-center technology companies. In June 2019, Fungible raised a further $200 million in Series C financing led by SoftBank Vision Fund, joined by Norwest Venture Partners and existing investors. The company had approximately 200 employees by that time. Leadership and technical responsibilities evolved as the company expanded. In September 2019, Fungible announced that Jai Menon, a former chief technology officer at Dell and IBM, would become chief scientist. In July 2021, Eric Hayes was appointed chief executive officer, replacing co-founder Pradeep Sindhu in that position. Sindhu remained associated with the company as a founder, but the available reference does not specify his subsequent operating role. Fungible's broader architectural goal was composable disaggregated infrastructure. Conventional servers bundle processing, storage, and networking resources into fixed configurations. A disaggregated approach separates those resources and connects them through a high-speed fabric, allowing capacity to be pooled and assigned dynamically. Fungible's DPU technology was designed to act as a traffic and infrastructure controller within this model, helping coordinate data movement while allowing CPUs and GPUs to concentrate on application workloads. In January 2023, Microsoft announced that it would acquire Fungible. Microsoft described the transaction as a way to bolster its data-center infrastructure and data processing unit efforts. The announcement brought Fungible's independent corporate existence to a close and placed its technology within Microsoft's broader infrastructure activities. It also reflected the wider industry movement toward specialized processors for cloud computing, where improved efficiency, security, and workload isolation are important at large scale. The acquisition announcement was followed by litigation. Naveen Gupta, identified in the reference material as a Fungible stockholder and former employee, filed a lawsuit seeking to investigate alleged wrongdoing and possible breaches of fiduciary duties. The available material does not establish whether the allegations were proven or how the case was ultimately resolved. No independent public-company trading history is identified for Fungible, and the company was privately financed before the Microsoft transaction.

• 2023

  Microsoft announces acquisition

  [1]Fungible Inc.en.wikipedia.org

  Microsoft announced the acquisition of Fungible to reinforce its data-center infrastructure and DPU capabilities.

• 2021

  Eric Hayes becomes CEO

  [1]Fungible Inc.en.wikipedia.org

  Eric Hayes replaced co-founder Pradeep Sindhu as chief executive officer.

• 2019

  Series C financing and workforce expansion

  [1]Fungible Inc.en.wikipedia.org

  The company raised $200 million in Series C financing and had approximately 200 employees.

• 2019

  Jai Menon joins as chief scientist

  [1]Fungible Inc.en.wikipedia.org

  Former Dell and IBM chief technology officer Jai Menon became Fungible's chief scientist.

• 2017

  Series A financing

  [1]Fungible Inc.en.wikipedia.org

  Fungible raised $32 million in a Series A round led by Mayfield Fund, Walden Riverwood Ventures, and Battery Ventures.

• 2015

  Fungible is founded

  [1]Fungible Inc.en.wikipedia.org

  Pradeep Sindhu and Bertrand Serlet founded Fungible to develop hardware and software for more efficient data-center infrastructure.

Fungible positioned itself as a data-center infrastructure innovator focused on programmable DPUs, infrastructure offload, and composable disaggregated systems. Its proposition was to improve data-center economics and reliability by separating compute and storage resources and using specialized processors to manage high-volume data movement and infrastructure services.

• Data-center processors

  Fungible Data Processing Units

  Fungible developed programmable data processing units designed to accelerate infrastructure workloads in data centers. A DPU manages and offloads data movement and related services between networked storage, CPUs, and GPUs. The technology was intended to improve performance and efficiency while providing a programmable control layer for networking, storage, and other data-centric operations.

• Data-center architecture

  Composable disaggregated infrastructure

  Fungible's architectural approach separated compute and storage resources from fixed server configurations and connected them through a high-speed data fabric. The model allowed data-center resources to be pooled and assigned dynamically, reducing the physical limitations of conventional servers. DPUs were intended to coordinate traffic and infrastructure services within this disaggregated environment.

• 2023

  Stockholder fiduciary-duty lawsuit

  Following Microsoft's acquisition announcement, stockholder and former employee Naveen Gupta filed a lawsuit seeking an investigation into alleged corporate wrongdoing and breaches of fiduciary duties. The available reference material does not state the outcome of the case.

  Source

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• 2023

  Microsoft acquisitionM&A

  Background

  Fungible had developed DPU technology aimed at improving data-center infrastructure, while Microsoft was expanding its internal capabilities in specialized data processing and cloud infrastructure.

  Action taken

  Microsoft announced that it would acquire Fungible and use the company's technology and expertise to strengthen its data-center infrastructure efforts.

  Aftermath

  The announcement ended Fungible's independent corporate trajectory. A stockholder and former employee subsequently filed litigation alleging possible wrongdoing and breaches of fiduciary duties; the available material does not document the final outcome.

  Source

1. 1Fungible Inc.en.wikipedia.org
2. 2Archived Fungible official websiteweb.archive.org