Valve Founder’s Neural Interface Company to Launch First Brain Chip This Year

Man, so Gabe Newell—yeah, the dude from Valve—is up to something pretty wild lately. His new gig? A company called Starfish Neuroscience. They’re diving into the whole brain-computer interface scene. And honestly, who saw that coming? Anyway, they’re working on this funky little neural chip. Supposed to be all next-gen, and it’s said to be barely invasive. Might hit the market sooner than you’d expect, or so they say.

So, like, there’s this post they dropped—Starfish did, I mean—about teaming up with some R&D maestros, imec, I think? And they’re cooking up this ultra-low power chip. Get this; it’s wireless, needs no battery, and slots right into your brain like it’s nothing. Sounds a lot like sci-fi to me, but hey, here we are.

The chip’s whole deal is reading and zapping your brain cells—yeah, zapping’s probably not the word you’d see in a technical paper, but it fits. They say it’s crucial for tackling those crazy brain quirks, the kind that need a bit more than a single switch here or there.

Oh, yeah, they shared a picture—Gabe’s standing there with a guy, Mike or something. But the real kicker here is that they’re trying to beat the bulk and power-gobbling beasts of today. Current tech? It’s usually a one-trick pony in Elon’s playground, tinkering with the brain’s motor cortex. Starfish, though, they’ve got ambitions. They wanna sprinkle these chips all over your brain, thanks to shrinking tech and magic. Or something.

And, brace yourself, the chip’s dinky. Just a puny 2x4mm. Insane, right? Who knew Valve’s founder would be boasting brain chip specs like GPU stats? So, what does it do? Here’s the quick and dirty (prepare for nerdy specs):

– Low power—like 1.1 mW. That’s practically nothing.
– Tiny as heck—did I mention 2x4mm? Super small.
– Records stuff like spikes and LFPs, whatever those are.
– Works on multiple channels—18.75 kHz sounds fancy.
– Stimulates electrodes in pairs? Yeah, something like that.

Oh! And it’s got some onboard gimmicks to keep things ticking, plus it chats over wireless low-band. Built using TSMC’s processes, if that means anything to you.

But yeah, they’re still getting the ducks in a row. They’re looking for folks to buddy up with—mainly brains into wireless power or neuro gadgets. The real magic of this thing? Beyond just science-y stuff? Gabe hinted at a future like ‘The Matrix’. Creepy, but cool.

He once yakked about it in 2023—claiming people are closer to switching on and off brain stuff than anyone thought. Like, your brain’s got these awesome plugs for some tasks, but for others? Meh.

Then there’s Mike Ambinder. He did a stint at Valve and was tossing ideas around about brain interfaces in games. Imagine knowing what players are thinking—well, kinda. He gave a talk back in the day, wondering about what data they could nab from players in-game. Sounds nuts, but hey, technology keeps zooming past us.

Big thanks to Brad ‘SadlyItsBradley’ Lynch for this scoop. Totally didn’t expect to be reading a Valve-guy brain-chip saga, but here we are, racing toward 2025. Or 2026? Whenever it’ll be.