Elias Almqvist
CEO and Co-Founder of Exa
How I Got Here: The Journey to Building Exa
San Francisco, California. Elias Almqvist, founder and CEO of Exa, has always been driven by a desire to create transformative technologies. At the helm of Exa, he is spearheading the development of energy-efficient AI chips that are superior to traditional GPUs in speed and energy efficiency. His journey to Silicon Valley's innovation epicenter began in the quiet, unassuming town of Eklanda, Sweden—a stark contrast to the fast-paced, high-tech world he now helps define.
Growing Up in Eklanda, Sweden
Elias grew up in Eklanda, a quiet suburb on the outskirts of Gothenburg. “It was very quiet… I grew up in a small town, pretty standard middle-class family stuff,” he recalls. “People really enjoyed their structures. Must follow procedures, rules, and everything that makes creativity impossible. I was a very ambitious kid and the default response was always ‘that’s not possible.’” This environment, where unconventional thinking was usually discouraged, left Elias feeling isolated. “If I’m going to be honest, I was an outcast,” he admits. “No one really understood me, and every other kid was too focused on whatever was popular at the time. I think I was the only kid who had an obsessive interest in tech, and at the start, I got ridiculed for it."
he says. “It was hard because I couldn’t be myself, I had to be someone else.” Despite the challenges, Elias found a small group of friends who would stick by him. “There were some great times though. I did find some friends who I’m still friends with to this day,” he reflects. “I’m an only child, but those people I'd call my brothers.”
Discovering a Love for Tech
Elias’s passion for technology ignited at a young age. “My father introduced me to computers when I was about 8 years old, and I was of course hooked,” he recalls. “I got my first computer at 9, then everything just snowballed from there.” Growing up in a small town that didn’t exactly encourage unconventional thinking, Elias found solace in his early exposure to technology. “I mostly just kept to myself, learning whatever I thought was interesting, mostly programming and building random things,” he says. While other kids were consumed by fleeting trends, Elias’s curiosity about technology allowed him to carve out his own space. “I wanted to be an inventor, but that was before I knew what a founder was. It’s the same thing really.”
Elias’s self-taught journey in tech became the foundation for his future ambitions. His early experiences in tech were a direct response to a stifling environment, where his interests often went unnoticed. “It was tough, but it also fueled my drive to build something bigger."
Pursuing High-Risk Projects
“People are very risk-averse in Sweden. Risks are frowned upon, and success is not celebrated the same way,” he says. “Most of the time when I said I wanted to build something, or do something, or even learn something, the default response was 'that's not possible.’ You need to have a degree or some sort of validation from the system to be taken seriously. But I didn’t care about that. I just did it anyway.”
The Move to Silicon Valley
Elias realized that to truly bring his vision to life, he needed to leave Sweden and embrace the broader opportunities the world had to offer. “I’ve always loved Silicon Valley. I’ve always been drawn here,” he says, reflecting on his decision to move. “All roads lead to SF. It was inevitable. Silicon Valley is great because of the people and culture. Everyone is building something amazing, and people are also very supportive and kind.”
Elias’s O-1 visa journey was a crucial step in making his vision a reality in the U.S. Plymouth was great, got all the docs ready and everything, drafted the petition quickly, and got the O-1 approved in 10 days,” he says. The decision to move to San Francisco, though a significant step, proved to be the right one for Elias and Exa.
“Silicon Valley or San Francisco is great because everyone knows that some random kid from some random place in the world can come here and build the next generational company. Compared to Sweden, it’s not like that at all. There’s a different level of opportunity here that encourages innovation and risk-taking.”
Building Exa
Elias’s vision with Exa is clear: “Exa is making energy-efficient AI chips that are reconfigurable and can optimize the data flows of each model,” he says. “We’re solving two major problems. One is energy consumption, the other is hardware bias in AI research. Current GPUs just aren’t built for what we need. They’re not sustainable, and they favor linear models that aren’t capable of learning.” The energy inefficiency of current AI chips is something Elias is passionate about solving. “The current state-of-the-art NVIDIA chips are around 1.2kW per unit, which is insane!” he exclaims.
“Data centers consume 2% of the global energy right now, and it’s expected to become 20-30% by 2030. We have to change that.”
On the second problem, he adds, “We need models that can learn in a more flexible, advanced way. GPUs favor more linear computations (e.g. matmul etc.), but AI models are non-linear and probabilistic in nature. That’s why we’re focused on building reconfigurable chips that can handle the unique and complex dataflows of these models. Everyone else is focused on the popular thing - it's time to move beyond.”
Advice for Future Immigrant Founders
Elias is focused on leaving a lasting impact. “I intend to leave a legacy, and I intend to fight for humanity and the people I care about,” he says. “Anything less than that isn’t worth mentioning.” For Elias, the work he’s doing at Exa is about creating the tools that will power future breakthroughs. “If we just had the right computational capabilities, we could solve problems that people would’ve thought were impossible just a few years ago,” he says. “AI isn’t about chatbots or generating images. It’s about gaining further knowledge about the universe, and that won’t happen without the right hardware.”
Elias believes that the key to success lies in starting without hesitation and pursuing what truly excites you. He stresses the importance of picking an ambitious goal and dedicating yourself to it fully, no matter the obstacles. For him, the journey is about unwavering commitment and ignoring the voices of doubt, even when others may try to discourage or slow you down.
